Voneus Bring Gigabit Broadband to Tiny Pembrokeshire Village of Dale
After some false starts in the past, residents of the tiny coastal Pembrokeshire (Wales) village of Dale can now finally start enjoying access to a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network, which is thanks to a deployment by local ISP Voneus that was funded by the government’s gigabit voucher scheme.
The original deployment for Dale was actually planned several years ago as part of Broadway Partners involvement with the local authority’s Digital Connectivity Programme (DCP), although that ended up running into difficulties after Broadway fell into administration in May 2023 (it’s unclear how far they got with the Dale build). But hope returned after Voneus acquired the operator’s network a few months later (here).
The good news today, as spotted by Thinkbroadband (via the council’s website), is that much of the Dale area, including the whole village, has now finally been connected to gigabit-capable broadband. New customers will thus be able to take speeds of 250Mbps (symmetric) from just £29.99 on a 24-month term, which rises to £59.99 if you want a 900Mbps service (includes free installation and a router). The first month of service is free.
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Cllr Paul Miller, Deputy Leader, said:
“Connecting our rural communities is a significant step in the digital infrastructure of Pembrokeshire.
Along with our partners, this extensive programme of work has transformed full fibre connectivity and will futureproof the network in our county. “The commitment from this authority will ensure our communities won’t be left without connection.
There is more to do, but thanks to a proactive approach by the County Council, full fibre will be offered to more and more communities all the time.”
We should add that other operators, such as Openreach, also appear to have tentative plans to deploy FTTP around some of the same area by 2026.
Mark is a professional technology writer, IT consultant and computer engineer from Dorset (England), he also founded ISPreview in 1999 and enjoys analysing the latest telecoms and broadband developments. Find me on X (Twitter), Mastodon, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads.net and Linkedin.
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One of the nicest places I have ever visited. Well worth a visit if you are down that way.
That was built, lit and sold for over 100 customers 2 years ago by Broadway Partners – Voneus didn’t sell on it because they had some issue with Salesforce – it is not new build???
They even connected the lighthouse at the bottom.
This is wildly inaccurate. Broadway Partners built this network, and Voneus taking credit for it is true to form. I just really feel for the customers in this area – if Broadway Partners were still around then they’d have reason to be optimistic but now that Voneus are looking after it, they’ll have nothing but trouble. Voneus do not care about their customers whatsoever and let process get in the way of action. The one saving grace is that BP built the network, so it may actually work the way it’s supposed to.
Didn’t Broadway Partners deliver FTTP there? I assume they are part of Voneus now? Would be odd for both to build there in such a rural place.
Indeed
I can’t find it right now but there was a news item in here recently about an ISP going broke, Voneus taking over and then doing nothing as the network fell to bits. I wouldn’t be rushing to sign up with them.
This has been in place for over 28 months? Might be worth researching rather than relying on thinkbroadband.
At least your little hamlet got fttp at davids got copper wire connection …