Cardiff’s Hypercity Network Can Power the Growth of Our SMEs

For any city that wants to support a thriving base of growth businesses, the fundamentals have to be right. Increasingly, that means far more than office space, transport links or headline investment pitches. It means reliable, high-quality digital connectivity.

For Cardiff’s SME community, this is becoming one of the most decisive factors in whether businesses grow, take on staff and invest for the long term.

The reality is that smaller firms are often the most reliant on digital tools but the least likely to have access to fast or consistent infrastructure. Many are dealing with significant volumes of data, operating flexible working models or collaborating across different locations. Yet historically they have been among the businesses most likely to report problems with broadband or internet connection.

UK Government data shows a stark contrast: while around 40% of companies employing a thousand people or more can access gigabit-plus speeds, that figure falls to just 2.4% for firms with fewer than ten employees. It creates a barrier for the very businesses that tend to be at the most agile stage of their development.

That is why Cardiff’s new hypercity network represents such an important turning point. Developed through a £7 million collaboration between Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government, the network consists of roughly 170 kilometres of new full-fibre infrastructure across large parts of the city. It provides a dedicated, ten-gigabit capable connection rather than relying on old copper lines or patchwork systems from legacy providers. For the first time, SMEs can access the same level of modern digital capability as larger firms, without the impractical cost of commissioning their own dedicated lines.

For many of Cardiff’s smaller companies, this changes the conversation. A growth business with ten to 50 employees may not yet be in a position to invest in leased lines, but it still needs speed, resilience and reliability if it is going to scale. These are businesses we need to encourage – those that are growing, cost-sensitive and looking for locations where high-quality infrastructure is already in place. Years ago, those firms might have focused primarily on property costs. Today, connectivity and talent are just as central to their decision-making.

It also matters for sectors where digital capability underpins day-to-day operations. Tech firms, TV and broadcasting, telecommunications and financial services all depend heavily on data. Even businesses that might not label themselves as digital are now operating with significant digital components. Without the right infrastructure, they simply cannot compete. With it, they can thrive in Cardiff without needing to look elsewhere.

This shift has real implications for the “missing middle” challenge that we talk about so often in Wales. We know that many businesses grow to a certain point before plateauing, not because of a lack of ambition but because of barriers in their operating environment. Connectivity has been one of those barriers. Smaller companies are the ones most vocal about frustrations with broadband, yet they are also the firms most capable of rapid development when given the tools they need. By closing that gap, we give these companies a genuine pathway to becoming medium-sized employers – and, in the best cases, much more.

The impact extends beyond the workplace itself. Many tech-led businesses operate on hybrid models, with staff working from home on data-heavy tasks. If someone needs to edit large files on a Friday afternoon, the strength of the wider city network matters every bit as much as the connection at their desk. People increasingly choose a place to live first and a place to work second, so ensuring consistent connectivity across the city helps attract and retain talent.

What we are trying to build is an environment where businesses can grow without running into avoidable infrastructural limits. When we promote Cardiff at investment conferences, we want to lead with hard evidence about connectivity, not caveats. We want the city to rank at the top of the lists that investors look at. The hypercity network is giving us that platform.

For SMEs, it represents something straightforward but critical: the ability to grow with confidence. For the city, it strengthens the base of firms that will form the next generation of employers. And for the economy as a whole, it helps ensure that Cardiff’s growth is powered by companies that have the digital capability to reach their full potential.

Jon Day talks about this and more in the Cardiff Business podcast episode Inside Cardiff’s Hypercity Vision. Listen here.