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A Tech City boss told today how Silicon Roundabout’s slow internet speeds meant at one point his company “could barely send an email” at peak times.

When Mark McDermott, co-founder of digital agency Codegent, moved the firm from Clapham to just off Old Street roundabout at the end of 2012, he said he had “assumed that the internet speed of the area wouldn’t be an issue considering it was the tech hub of London”.

But instead he found it was “sluggish at best and by around 3pm each afternoon you could barely send an email”. He added: “As a digital agency with another office in Thailand, where we had to share files, this was unacceptable.”

Mr McDermott said he was “astounded that fibre was not widely available in the area given that we could have all had it installed easier in our residential flats for about £30 per month”.

The firm had to pay thousands to have fibre broadband piped up from the City, a service that came with a hefty monthly fee.

However, he said, the firm had no choice but to pay “as we really felt we couldn’t operate without it. The internet connection is like water for us.”

Mr McDermott said that while Codegent did not lose business because of the problems, “it did affect our credibility”. He added: “Clients had little sympathy for why we could not upload a new release or transfer files and this seemed like a crazy excuse. ‘But you’re in Silicon Roundabout?’.”

Mr McDermott said the lack of superfast broadband in Tech City was “huge”, adding: “Everyone moans about it. I’ve referred several in my building to the company we used.

“We certainly seem to paint a great PR picture as a nation with really sound internet infrastructure, especially in urban areas. To have this be the case in some of the major technical and business hubs is embarrassing.”