The need for households and businesses in Wales to have access to next generation broadband in the twenty first century is becoming increasingly important. More than ever, high speed communications are crucial in the fast-moving and changing world that we work and live in.
Reliable high-speed broadband can help to support those in education and has the potential to help businesses connect with the rest of the world and tap into enormous opportunities.
However, when it comes to access to high-speed broadband services, Wales is still lagging behind.
The Welsh Government, in partnership with BT, is attempting to change this through the multimillion-pound Superfast Cymru programme.
Its aim was for 96% of premises in Wales to have the ability to access fast fibre broadband by the end of Spring 2016. This is a laudable aim, but unfortunately not all is going to plan with the Superfast programme.
The Welsh Government has now extended the deadline to supply the agreed number of premises with high-speed broadband by two years, with little in the way of financial penalties for the supplier, BT Openreach and an inquiry into the programme by the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee found that poor communication with customers and conflicting information on service availability is causing significant frustration.
The Committee found that timescales for the installation of new services had slipped in many parts of Wales and that the expectations of customers was being raised only to be dashed as a result. Information about the rollout of access to next generation broadband informs customer decisions about where they will live or base their businesses, and the Committee was advised that poor information was disadvantaging opportunities for employment and business growth.
While I welcome the extension of the project to add 42,000 further premises to the contract across Wales, it is critical that assurances are provided to ensure that the project extension will not lead to further delays for premises that were included in the original contract.
We also need to see a much clearer communications campaign from both the Welsh Government and BT to ensure people have up to date, accurate and robust information on timescales for the delivery of high-speed boradband services.
This information is particularly important for hard to reach premises. While it is all very well having new services available to 96% of premises, a strategy for reaching the remaining 4% must also be developed and implemented.
Many of these properties are in rural parts of Wales, including communities here in Conwy and Denbighshire. The Welsh Government must ensure that these communities do not suffer from digital exclusion which disadvantages them from reaching their full potential.
Fast internet access is critical to securing Wales’ economic revival. If a business has immediate access to fast broadband, they can do business more speedily with partners around the world and respond to changes in the market.
Too many businesses and households have gone without Superfast broadband for far too long in Wales and it is crucial that the Welsh Government act to ensure that people in all parts of the country are connected to this fast service as soon as possible.
Digital infrastructure is transforming our way of life and the way we do business - we can not afford to let Wales lag behind.