Talk Talk Business, part of the domestic broadband provider said SME users are paying far too much for poor service as it made a play to grow its single digit share of the business broadband space.

"We want to take the fight to BT," said Charles Bligh, MD of Talk Talk Business.

BT has between 50 and 60% of the UK market for SME broadband compared with 5-6% for Talk Talk.

Bligh said the company has embarked on an aggressive 18 month business plan to grow this share.

To back its move Talk Talk commissioned a survey of 1,000 UK SMEs and said it found that half don’t think they get good value while six from ten reported problems with their incumbent including billing issues, paying hidden extras and lack of service. "

Talk Talk Business’ definition of an SME is on the small side. Its sweet spot is a company with 30-50 staff and one to three offices.

Bligh said: "The consumer bb market is competitive – incredibly so with the four established players. But in the business market one dominant player has 60%. Business broadband is not competitive. Excess profits are being made. We don’t want to be self righteous but we are very clear this is not just about price. The service capability has to be there too."