79,000 Premises in Wales Remain Without Superfast Broadband UPDATE

The Welsh Government (WG) has today issued a short update on their various broadband schemes, which among other things reveals that 79,000 properties (categorised as “white premises”) still do not have access to “superfast broadband” (30Mbps+) and won’t benefit from any future roll-out plans within the next 3 years.

At present the WG has an on-going £22.5m Phase 2 Superfast Cymru contract with Openreach (BT), which aims to extend “gigabit-capable” Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology to a further 26,000 premises by March 2021 (here and here). So far this contract is already known to have completed 8,283 premises from its target (May 2020 progress update).

On top of that the WG has now posted the final outcome of their latest Open Market Review (OMR) which, after factoring in the above contract and other commercial developments, has found that a total of 79,000 properties “do not have access to superfast broadband and are not in any plans to be given access in the next three years” (see further below for a regional breakdown of that figure).

The WG states that one of the ways they intend to tackle this gap is by using some of their remaining broadband funding to top-up vouchers under the UK Government’s £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme (due to run until March 2021), which normally offers up to £3,500 for small rural businesses and up to £1,500 for homes to get a “gigabit-capable” connection. But this will now be doubled for rural Wales.

WG Statement

We will continue to support those still not connected through our range of measures. Members will be aware that the Welsh Government has been providing a top-up to the UK Government led Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme to reflect the higher costs of providing full fibre connectivity in Wales. The scheme has now come to an end and has been replaced by the Rural Gigabit Connectivity project.

I am pleased to inform you that we are again stepping in to provide additional Welsh Government resources to give Wales a generous package of measures not bettered anywhere in the UK. We will provide a Wales top-up for the new scheme of an additional £1,500 for residential properties and £3,500 for businesses. This will take the maximum available to premises in Wales to £3,000 and £7,000 respectively. To help focus the funding on properties that need it most only ‘white’ premises will be eligible. The top-up funding will only be released when the UK funding ceilings are breached.

As clearly demonstrated in the findings of the OMR there remain homes and businesses in Wales that aren’t being served by the market. So we are using our funding to deliver new and innovative ways of connecting whole communities working with local government and social enterprises through our £10 million Local Broadband Fund, which I outlined in November last year. Work on the fund had been paused because resources both within the Welsh Government and local authorities have been redeployed to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, however, the scheme is now underway.

Unfortunately the WG still doesn’t say precisely how the £10m Local Broadband Fund will actually work, although we assume that it may form some kind of co-funded approach like Openreach’s Community Fibre Partnerships (CFP) scheme. In any case £10m is still just a drop in the ocean of what will actually be needed to plug the gap.

The big X factor in all this is how much public investment will be coming to Wales as a result of Boris Johnson’s (PM) new £5bn commitment to have “gigabit-capable broadband … sprouting in every household” by the end of 2025, which is focused on the final 20% of UK premises and will no doubt also help to tackle some of the remaining problem areas.

Now here’s how that 79,000 figure is being broken down by area.

Breakdown by local authority (Wales)

* These premises are physically within Wales but are categorised by Address Base Premium as being associated with an English Local Authority.

UPDATE 4:24pm

The UK Government have now issued a separate press release to confirm the aforementioned voucher change, which is apparently being made available to 50,000 premises in Wales (we assume it’s not 79,000 due to a quirk of eligibility somewhere, perhaps with the speed criteria).

Matt Warman, UK Government Minister for Digital Infrastructure, said:

“Our £1.8 billion superfast broadband programme transformed Wales’ digital landscape, allowing many people to work remotely during lockdown.

We are now focusing on future-proofing internet networks with gigabit speeds and, working with the Welsh Government, I am pleased to offer even more vital funding to bring this next-generation connectivity to rural businesses and homes.

I encourage all those who qualify to apply to feel the benefits of much faster internet connections.”

Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, said:

“Fast, reliable internet is vital for our communities, as the covid-19 outbreak has highlighted. Following our Superfast Cymru programme 95 per cent of premises in Wales can access faster broadband, and we need to look at innovative ways to reach the final five per cent.

We are pleased to provide this top up for the UK Government’s scheme which takes into account the challenges of reaching some premises in rural areas. I would urge communities and businesses to explore the options these vouchers will offer so they can access some of the fastest speeds available.”

Anyone who is interested can use the postcode checker at the following link to find registered suppliers in their area and their chosen supplier will then guide them through the application. For more information and to check eligibility visit: https://gigabitvoucher.culture.gov.uk .