THE founder of a broadband company specialising in bringing high-speed internet to small and isolated communities has welcomed a report tackling the issue in Wales.

The Senedd’s Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee report was published this week – warning that poor broadband speeds in rural areas of Wales risk “excluding people from modern life”.

The committee’s latest report, published on Monday, August 1, examined broadband connectivity in Wales and found that, despite improvements over the last few years, many people are still unable to access adequate internet speeds. It claims more rural communities in Wales, like Powys, are being left behind with “sub-par, unreliable broadband”, due to barriers in receiving high-quality, superfast internet.

MS Llyr Gruffydd, chair of the committee, said: “It is extremely disappointing to hear of many people in Wales still unable to access superfast broadband.

“Especially since the pandemic, more and more of our lives are lived online, and it’s simply unfair that many in rural areas are expected to put-up with sub-par, unreliable broadband. Everyone in Wales, not just those in urban areas, should be able to access a high-speed internet connection – this shouldn’t be a luxury.

“Many of the issues we examined are non-devolved so we urge the Welsh Government to take on board our recommendations and present the solutions in this report to the UK Government – or the failures we see in this report will be repeated.

“With living costs rising sharply, the UK Government must urgently look at raising the Universal Service Obligation (USO) cap and improving the take-up of broadband services offering a ‘social tariff’. If things don’t change, we will undoubtedly see more people excluded from modern life.”

Michael Armitage, founder of broadband provider Broadway Broadband, welcomed the committee’s report, claiming it is time to “tackle the digital disadvantage” facing residents in Wales’ most isolated communities.

“It's encouraging to see the Welsh Parliament raising the issue of sub-par broadband affecting people across rural Wales,” said Mr Armitage.

“The report claiming people could be left ‘excluded from modern life’ is a stark warning that it is time to ramp up on tackling the digital disadvantage affecting people in rural Wales. Data released from Ofcom this month found that across Wales, 10,626 homes were below the minimum standard for broadband speed.

“Given the ambitious targets for rural connectivity laid out in the ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, the main priority should now be to continue providing the population in rural Wales with high-quality, full fibre broadband that is both as reliable and affordable as the packages available in urban areas.”

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The report found the provision of superfast broadband across Wales was uneven, with urban areas being the first to benefit from better connectivity, but many rural areas still being unable to access a decent internet connection.

Ofcom estimates that around 15,000 premises cannot get a broadband service of at least 10 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed from fixed or fixed wireless networks in Wales.

Since March 2020, households that cannot get a download speed of 10 Mbps (Megabits per second) and an upload speed of 1 Mbps, can request an upgraded connection from BT under the USO. This obliges BT to improve the connection for free if the installation cost is estimated to be below £3,400 for the customer. But if the cost exceeds the £3,400 cap, the customer must pay the excess.

The UK Government’s Project Gigabit is a £5 billion initiative designed to address this issue across the UK with the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme created to support rural areas with the installation costs of high-speed broadband.

But because of the mountainous Welsh topography there is a higher proportion of difficult-to-reach properties in Wales compared to other parts of the UK. According to Ofcom, there are an estimated 7,000 ‘hard to reach’ locations in Wales, where, even with the USO, access to a stable broadband connection wouldn’t be guaranteed.

Although superfast broadband availability in Wales is now at 96 per cent, figures from Ofcom show that take-up in Wales is only around 63 per cent.

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In Powys over the last 18 months, there have been multiple pilot projects launched to try and connect many of the county’s most isolated, rural areas to faster speeds, with Broadway Partners, a subsidiary of Broadway Broadband, chosen to lead these projects.

The Broadway Partners website describes how they have been building networks and offering internet services since 2016 – succeeding where others had failed to deliver high speed, dependable broadband to communities across Wales and Scotland.

In March last year work began on a community broadband scheme covering Llanafan Fawr, near Builth Wells, and Llanwrthwl and Elan Village, near Rhayader, which would involve a £250,000 investment and connect more than 150 properties.

In January this year, it was announced that Hundred House and Franksbridge were also set to benefit from a £250,000 investment. Days later two more projects, in Aberedw and Glascwm, near Builth, and in Dwyriw and Manafon, near Welshpool, would see £450,000 pumped into the area to improve speeds and connect over 300 properties.

Other pilot projects are also being rolled out in the New Radnor and Old Radnor areas, as well as Nantmel and Llanwrtyd Wells.