Broadband opportunity

A project kick started by the Welsh Assembly Government will bring first generation broadband to currently underserved regions of Wales, co-financed by EU funds. 

One of the objectives of the ‘Broadband Wales Program’, which feeds into the UK National Broadband Strategy, is to address the current gap in broadband service delivery between those communities which can currently get affordable access and those which cannot.

The new project aims at correcting this “digital divide” by awarding a grant to a service provider, who will be selected via a tender, to extend first generation broadband coverage to ‘blackspot’ regions of Wales.

These blackspot areas are localities where broadband services are not available and that are not considered by current service providers as commercially feasible in the near future. They include thirty five telecommunications exchange areas not on BT Group’s roll-out program, as well as communities that are disadvantaged because they are located too far from an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL)-enabled telecommunications exchange.

The selected service provider will itself fund 50% of the capital costs of the project. Providers of communications services will have the opportunity to submit their proposals in response to an advertisement that will be published in the Official Journal of the EU.