The final contract to bring faster broadband to premises which do not currently have access has been signed with Openreach, Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport Lee Waters has announced today.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
The final lot under the successor project to Superfast Cymru for east Wales will provide faster broadband for around 10,000 extra premises. It will be underpinned by over £9.2 million of public funding and will be completed by March 2021.
In total, along with the 2 other lots announced in the Autumn, Openreach will provide 26,000 premises with access to access to fast reliable broadband by March 2021 at a cost of nearly £22.5 million which will be met by the Welsh Government and EU funding.
This is in addition to the 733,000 premises already with access as a result of the Superfast Cymru programme.
None of these premises would have access to faster broadband without the Welsh Government’s intervention as the market had no plans to reach them under their own deployment plans.
Lee Waters said:
“These premises would have no access to faster broadband without government intervention.
“While our Superfast Cymru programme has transformed the digital landscape in Wales, with over 9 out of 10 premises now able to access faster broadband, there remain premises with no access.
“There is no one size fits all solution to reach all of these premises and a variety of measures will need to be used, including today’s contract which will reach 10,000 of those without. The other elements are individual support through our ABC and ultrafast connectivity voucher schemes, and support for communities through our vouchers schemes and community led interventions.
“It is a challenging and complex process but we are working hard on ensuring the final premises will have access.”
Kim Mears, Openreach managing director for strategic infrastructure delivery, said:
"We’re delighted to be working once again with the Welsh Government in widening access to superfast fibre broadband across Wales.
"Our engineers have already delivered an enormous engineering project that has brought access to fast reliable connectivity to nearly 95% of Welsh homes and businesses which is helping to enable a digital revolution in the country.
"But we also appreciate that there are those that didn’t benefit from Superfast Cymru and this latest intervention working alongside the Welsh Government will be one part of a suite of measures to bring faster broadband to those that missed out."