The Welsh Government (WG) has today announced that the Michaelston-y-Fedw Internet CIC (Community Interest Company), which a few years ago deployed a 1Gbps full fibre (FTTP) network to reach 240 premises in a rural village between Cardiff and Newport, has been extended into neighbouring communities.
Just to recap. The original scheme, which was funded by a mix of vouchers from the WG and local community funding, put a team of local volunteers together to help build their own Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across the rural village Michaelston y Fedw by adopting a similar sort of model to B4RN’s (here).
The MyFi project – as it was nicknamed – succeeded, but the work didn’t stop. Back in 2021 the WG announced the first projects to benefit from their new £22m Local Broadband Fund (here), which included a £525k plan to extend Michaelston’s existing network. The funding also contributed towards a secure data centre and fibre cables from that centre (previously all active equipment was installed in a local shipping container).
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The good news is that the network’s broadband connections are now fully secure, with the potential ability of offering 10Gbps connections to any residents requesting them. The network has also been extended into neighbouring communities, with 380 local homes and businesses now connected.
Economy Minister, Vaughan Gething, said:
“MyFi is a highly innovative project which brings people together to deliver fast and reliable broadband for their community. I’m very pleased the Welsh Government has been able to help the company build on the incredible work they have already done to secure and extend broadband provision to other communities.
Our Local Broadband Fund and various other schemes bring better connectivity to some of the hardest to reach parts of Wales. Good quality digital connectivity underpins everything we do digitally and is the foundation to achieving our ambitious digital strategy for Wales.
The fund is already delivering a real difference to communities across Wales, like Michaelston y Fedw. I’m really pleased the community has benefitted from further funding to help increase the number of premises that can benefit from faster broadband speeds.
Broadband is a key utility, and we’ll continue to support all efforts to boost connections the length and breadth of Wales.”
There’s an old video from 4 years ago that covers this project quite well, although it would be nice to see a few more details (coverage map, package details etc.) on their official website too.
UPDATE 14th Feb 2023 @ 7:45am
We’ve had a few extra details. The provider offers two packages, the first is £33.00 per month for a 900Mbps symmetrical service (realistically that is 940Mbps after overheads), which is the same cost for residents and businesses alike. The second is their Social Tariff, which provides an identical service but with a 50% cost reduction (open to anyone in receipt of Universal Credit). The network also supports IPv6 and everybody gets a static IP address too.
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The provider was also kind enough to supply a basic coverage map – they now cover an area around 5 miles by 4 miles and reach the outskirts of Cardiff, Newport, and Caerphilly in South Wales. It’s much larger than people may think by just looking at the premises count, which is often the way with network builds in sparse rural areas.
With only 768 IPv4 addresses, I fear their customer numbers might be limited… Although perhaps they some customers wouldn’t mind CGNAT…
Depends, but that’s more than enough for all their customers today, and they each have a static IP included. The network has also fully implemented IPv6, which is a key point that you may have overlooked.
I think we may have found a winner already in the 2023 most unsafe streetworks award
Except it’s not a street, that’s a fully closed customer driveway. Different ball game.
2/2 negative comments. I highly commend these initiatives which make people work together for a shared outcome. It’s not only cheaper than private investment but it also builds long lasting community relations. And you can guarantee these Altnets will not be sold to VM or whoever and then become another company ripping off their customers.
When someone comes around a corner at 50mph to hit people working in the road with no PPE, no protection and cables strewn in the road with no warning. Or falls down unguarded unlit trenches, they won’t be worried about negativity, altnets buyouts or community relations.
@photoFibreBubble,
If your traveling faster than your safe stopping distance for your vision ahead then that driver is totally at fault not what’s stationary in the road.
As above FibreBubble, the picture is not from a street, but rather a fully closed customer driveway.
Hate to burst your bubble but this network isn’t cheap they have received grant funding in the region of seven figures. The £525K mentioned in this article only included a few households. This is a Welsh Government vanity project.
This network has received a lot more money than B4rn if you look at grant funding per premise.
This site was in a gated community in the grounds of a large country house. Very safe, I spent many hours there removing redundant cabling,coax etc out of ducts to install myfi instead of damaging the nice lawns