A £30m infrastructure investment to increase the number of homes and commercial properties able to access superfast broadband has been announced by the Welsh Government.
The rollout, in partnership with Openreach, will reach those parts of Wales where superfast broadband, defined as a download speed of at least 30Mbps, is currently less than 90%. They are in the local authority areas of Gwynedd, Powys, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Monmouthshire.
The vast majority of homes and businesses in Wales – 95% — already have access to superfast broadband, following the completion of the Superfast Cymru project. That work, and the latest extension, is being carried by Openreach, the at arm’s length digital network business of BT.
Of the remaining properties below 30Mbps the latest agreement with Openreach will increase from 26,000 to 39,000 the premises with the ability to pay for superfast broadband.
The extension work, which will be completed next summer, is being funded by the Welsh Government and the European Union, with additional investment from Openreach.
Research from Think Broadband shows that 0.71% of properties in Wales have a speed of less than 2Mbps, while regulatory Ofcom says that around 3% have speed of less than 10Mbps.
The recent Open Market Review from Welsh Government found that there are around 79,000 properties that do not have access to superfast broadband with currently no private or public sector plans for them to be able to receive it.
Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport Lee Waters said: “The Covid-19 outbreak has brought into sharp relief the importance of fast and reliable broadband. While the vast majority of premises in Wales have access to superfast broadband, thanks to the earlier Welsh Government intervention through Superfast Cymru, we know we need to reach the final premises without access.“The fibre rollout is part of a package of measures to do just that.
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“The 39,000 premises to benefit from this will have future-proofed fibre to the premises which provides some of the fastest broadband speeds possible. The additional premises I’m announcing are in areas where coverage is below 90%, so we can make the biggest difference.
“Fibre rollout is not the solution for every premises without access to superfast broadband, which is why we have a number of other schemes including the Access Broadband Cymru scheme, the Local Broadband Fund and the Welsh top-up to the 海角视频 Government Rural Gigabit Voucher scheme.
“While broadband is not devolved, we are determined to take action where we can to improve connectivity across all parts of Wales.”
Connie Dixon, partnership director for Openreach in Wales, said: “We’re delighted to be able to build our next-generation full fibre network even further across rural Wales as a result of this extension.
“The coronavirus lockdown has reminded everyone that having a decent broadband connection is more important than ever for both businesses and homes – no matter where you live or work.
“So we’re excited to be able to build on the success of our existing partnership with the Welsh Government. Despite the impact of the pandemic, our key worker engineers have continued to build and maintain our network across Wales and have already connected more than 8,000 homes and businesses with full fibre all the way from the exchange to their property – bringing with it access to among the fastest and most reliable broadband connections in both the 海角视频 and Europe.”
Heather Myers, chief executive, of South and Mid Wales Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are delighted to hear of the extension of the Welsh Government’s rollout of superfast broadband to businesses and homes in Wales, especially as it involves one of our key business associates, Openreach.
“This will enable over 30% more premises to have FTTP (fibre to the premises) fast fibre connectivity and will push superfast coverage up to 97%. This announcement is a very positive step in making sure all Welsh businesses have the vital and reliable connectivity they need to operate efficiently.”