A KEIGHLEY engineering firm has described how superfast broadband is transforming the way it operates.

Acetarc, which specialises in the design and manufacture of foundry equipment, says the time it takes to send critical online data has been slashed from more than an hour to just minutes.

The Dalton Lane company is among nearly 21,000 businesses and homes across Keighley that can now access broadband speeds of up to 80 Mbps, following a phone exchange upgrade.

Acetarc – a family-run firm, established more than half a century ago, which produces mainly molten metal handling and pouring equipment – exports over 80 per cent of its products so relies on global communications.

Senior director, Steven Harker, said: “We were becoming increasingly frustrated with our broadband speeds prior to upgrading to superfast.

“It was becoming difficult to work effectively and efficiently with our upload speeds, which were only around 1Mbps and almost impossible to operate with.

“Since the upgrade, we are finding it much easier to keep in daily contact with customers around the world.

“We can now send large amounts of data such as drawings, 3D cad files, photos and video clips of our equipment in action. Before, such large attachments would slow our entire system down. What used to take an hour or more to send can now reach its destination in under ten minutes.”

Keighley phone exchange was first upgraded to fibre broadband as part Openreach’s commercial roll-out of the technology in 2012, but not all homes and businesses in the area benefitted immediately.

Since then, the multi-million pound Superfast West Yorkshire & York broadband partnership has been filling the gaps.

Councillor Peter Box, chairman of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority investment committee, said: “The huge benefits that Acetarc Engineering have seen clearly show how important the superfast broadband project is to meeting our aim of creating economic growth and jobs across West Yorkshire and the city region.”