The Welsh Government's (WG) Broadband Support Initiative (BBSS), which offers grants of up to £1,000 for residents and businesses (per property) who live in parts of Wales (UK) where only basic 2Mbps or slower internet speeds are possible, has been thrown into turmoil after a stealthy change to the schemes payment rules.

The problems began in July 2011 (Br0kenTeleph0n3) after the Welsh Business Minister, Edwina Hart, adjusted their £2m scheme so that the government, on behalf of the home owner, could also pay broadband ISPs directly.

On the surface this sounds like a good move as it meant that home owners, which would normally pay and then wait for a reimbursement later, should not be left out of pocket. Unfortunately the government failed to inform everybody about the change, which has lead to confusion and some home owners withholding payments until they know who to pay.


At the time of writing the Welsh Government is still refusing to confirm how many claims had not been processed. It's also failed to setup a stakeholders group with Welsh ISPs, which was originally due to start in April 2011.

Confusion appears to have gripped the region after the UK government awarded Wales £56.9 Million in July to help 90% of homes and businesses in the country receive superfast broadband ISP services by 2015. By contrast WG's own Digital Wales Strategy envisages the deployment of 30Mbp+ capable services to 100% of businesses by the middle of 2016 and households by 2020.