A WEST Devon-based organisation is appealing for people in the Mary Tavy area to register their interest in the high-speed Broadband internet connection.

Devon Social Group say the campaign for Broadband to be applied to the Mary Tavy exchange has gathered pace and now more than half the number of people required to reach the BT trigger level have registered an interest in receiving the service.

Cathy Haglington of DSG said: 'We would like to put out an appeal for more people in the Mary Tavy and Peter Tavy areas to register for fast Broadband connection if they have a telephone number which starts with 81.'

Andy Mills, senior account manager for Devon for Broadband, an organisation set up to help communities achieve Broadband, said the trigger level for Mary Tavy was 150. This week, the registrations received stood at 92.

Mr Mills said: '150 is a very achievable level. We are doing a lot of work with communities and local groups in helping them to achieve local levels and we have been very successful.'

Mr Mills said Shebbear, for example, had a similar trigger level but had 'stuck' at 37 registrations. With advice from Devon for Broadband, a resident left forms in the local shop for people to fill in their contact details. He then collected them and made the registrations.

'Hey presto, within two days, Shebbear had an enablement date,' said Mr Mills.

Tavistock qualified for Broadband a year ago last week, when residents and businesses took registrations of interest to the magic 300 trigger level. Okehampton was upgraded on September 24, after it reached its trigger level last June.

Mr Mills said there were several other 'very achievable' trigger points in West Devon areas. For example, Lewdown needs just 100 registrations, Lifton 150, Milton Abbot 100 and Princetown 100.

He urged local businesses and individuals to use the Broadband for Devon website to register interests or obtain help from the organisation, which was set up on a non-profit-making basis using European Objective 2 funding. Its aim is to help small and medium sized businesses in the Objective 2 area boost their productivity using e-commerce and help them obtain any subsidies for which they could be eligible.

Mr Mills said: 'If people go on to our website, we will get back in contact with them and help them through the whole process and obviously if they want assistance and subsidies once they are enabled, we can help them through that as well.'

The website

http://www.samknows.com">www.samknows.com contains up to date information on registrations — just click on 'regional information'.

Broadband provides many benefits to businesses and householders using the internet. Access to the world wide web is much faster, information can be downloaded at up to ten times the normal speed and users can remain on the phone and use the internet at the same time.