By Daniel Hunter
More homes and businesses in Wales have been reached by the Government’s nationwide rollout of superfast broadband; figures published yesterday (Wednesday 12 August) reveal.
The rollout is delivering superfast access - internet speeds greater than 24 Mbps - to those properties not covered by existing commercial networks and is on track to take superfast access to 95 per cent of the UK by 2017. More than four out of five UK premises already have access to superfast speeds, and the rollout is currently reaching an additional 40,000 homes and businesses every week.
The announcement comes on the same day as Government has announced the nationwide rollout of superfast broadband has now passed more than three million UK homes and businesses.
Yesterday’s announcement comes following news last week that BT will make up to £129m available to extend the Government led roll-out of superfast broadband across the UK.
Wales Office Minister, Alun Cairns will meet with BT Openreach to see first hand how fibre broadband infrastructure is being installed during a visit to Caldicot on Thursday 13 August.
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale said yesterday:
Reaching three million properties is a huge achievement and I’m delighted that this includes more than 482,000 in Wales. Our rollout of superfast broadband is transforming lives up and down the UK as every day thousands more homes and businesses are gaining access to superfast speeds.
It’s fantastic to see that the rollout of superfast broadband is now delivering for customers and for the taxpayer. The levels of people taking up superfast broadband in areas where we invested public money are beyond our expectations, and BT is now reimbursing the public purse to deliver further coverage across the UK. This now means that BT will be providing up to £129m cashback for some of the most hard to reach areas.
