The Cardiff Council (Gyngor Caerdydd) in South Wales has chosen network operator and broadband ISP Telcom (ClearFibre, WeFibre, HyperCity etc.) to supply residents and businesses across the city with “hyperfast gigabit connectivity“, focusing on the patchwork of remaining areas that are still deemed to be poorly served.
A quick look at Cardiff shows that the vast majority of the city is already covered by gigabit-capable broadband networks, mostly via Hybrid Fibre Coax (Virgin Media) solutions and Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) infrastructure from the likes of Openreach, Hyperoptic, Ogi, FibreNest (Persimmon Homes) and the community orientated Michaelston-y-Fedw CIC project.
However, today’s announcement notes that there are still some areas “where a digital divide has emerged due to the patchwork approach to existing operator network builds“, which is said to have resulted in a lack of equitable fibre availability for certain properties (i.e. they can only access slow copper broadband solutions, although 4G and 5G mobile can still be another option for some).
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Cardiff Council has said they’re committed to ensuring that their citizens do not become a digital tale of two cities and that 100% complete coverage of “full fibre” connectivity is available across the city by 2025, creating digital inclusion for all. The local authority made a move to tackle this in 2022 by securing funds from the Welsh Government’s Local Broadband Fund (here)
Via a competitive tender process, Telcom has now been selected as their digital infrastructure partner to deliver a new hyperfast full fibre network based upon its HyperCity vision.
Cllr Chris Weaver, Cardiff Council, said:
“This project will deliver high quality fibre broadband to some of the most deprived communities in Cardiff.
Along with the significant improvements to broadband infrastructure, that wouldn’t have been provided by commercial operators, Telcom is also offering a Social Value Tariff, as well as local employment and training facilities through their Telcom’s Engineering Bootcamp which is due to launched to Cardiff residents this winter.”
Shaun Gibson, Telcom Group Co-Founder and CEO, said:
“We are delighted to have not only been selected by Cardiff Council but entrusted with the great responsibility of helping to close the digital divide across the City, in doing so ensuring digital inclusion. The rollout of the full fibre HyperCity network will remove barriers to growth and innovation and help to act as a catalyst for economic and social development, by connecting residents and businesses for good. Ultimately, ensuring that the premises served have access to hyperfast internet connections will create a better Cardiff, drive growth and future-proof its economy.”
The announcement doesn’t include a lot of detail on the rollout plan, total funding or likely premises passed, but last year’s news stated that a significant part of the investment (four different Welsh projects won a slice of the £9m pot) would go to Cardiff Council to provide broadband to 1,219 homes across Cardiff currently not able achieve broadband speeds of 30Mbps+. The scale of this is clearly quite small.
The scheme will continue to be rolled out by Telcom until January 2024 through the first phase of the project. The second phase is currently out to tender, with a contract being awarded later this year and will be delivered during 2024/25.
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I found out they were building from when working nearby to where I live, spoke to one of the engineers, didn’t think they had won a contract for the infill for superfast connectivity though.