Welsh Full Fibre ISP Ogi Awards Funding to Local Communities

Infracapital-backed broadband ISP and network builder Ogi, which is investing £200m on their project to deploy a new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across 150,000 premises in Wales by 2025, has started giving out small cash injections to help community groups across Pembrokeshire, Monmouthshire and the Vale of Glamorgan.

The provider has already connected premises across a number of locations since their network rollout started in 2021 (here and here) – including around Haverfordwest, Rhoose, Llantwit Major, St Athan, Abergavenny and many more (check out their latest rollout plan).

However, Ogi is also known to have setup a “Cefnogi” local support fund alongside this project, which has so far contributed over £4,000 toward community groups in Pembrokeshire, Monmouthshire and the Vale of Glamorgan. The funding is typically being used to support everything from community gardens to coffee mornings (i.e. supporting activities that directly benefit their communities).

The micro fund, as set up by the regional Community Liaison team, offers grants of around £250 to local grassroots groups in the broadband providers roll our areas. Admittedly that won’t go very far, but it’s still a nice thing to do and can help to bring the operator a bit more publicity during their deployments in the same areas, which may help to drive take-up.

Community Liaison Officer, Louise Clement, said:

“I’m thrilled to see so many groups being supported by the ‘Cefnogi’ fund. Community really is at the heart of all we do here at Ogi, and giving back through our micro-fund is making a real difference to the local groups we support.”

The latest round of the fund is currently still accepting applications until the end of October 2022 (here). Some of the projects the micro-fund has funded include:

In Monmouthshire

• Monmouthshire Youth Service received funds to run additional activities in two locations.
• People First Bridged Community Centre’s disability inclusion team used find to support people with leading difficulties to access activities.
• Social Circles used funds to support a series of dementia friendly social groups.

In Pembrokeshire

• The Third Place, used funds to support a series of wellbeing initiatives.
• Heritage Park residents used funds to purchase a defibrillator for their residential site.

In the Vale of Glamorgan

• Cardiff and Vale Scout Group, used funds to support a regional trip.
• Fairoaks Residents Group, used funds to purchase gardening equipment and supplies for a community space.
• Dinas Powys Voluntary Concern, used funds to secure venue hire for 6 months.