South Wales First To Get Super Fast Broadband

The new super fast broadband network that BT has been given the go ahead for is set to debut in South Wales. The fibre optic network will be installed in Cardiff and nearby Taffs Well at the start of 2010 – aswell as more urban areas like Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Greater Manchester.

Currently South Wales is one of the worst broadband coverage areas in the UK, especially in its rural areas. When the installation takes place, roughly 16,000 homes and businesses will benefit from broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps and potentially up to 60Mbps.
When talking about the new super fast broadband plans, the Welsh Assembly Government’s Deputy First Minister, Ieuan Wyn Jones, said:
“Access to broadband is important to businesses and citizens across Wales. It is important that the telecommunications infrastructure in Wales is able to meet this challenge and this announcement is a further demonstration of the important role that Wales wants to play at the forefront of the development of next generation broadband services across the UK”.
However, whilst it is great news that Cardiff and surrounding areas are set to benefit from this new network, there is still some concern about more rural parts of the country. David Melding AM, the Conservative Shadow Minister for the Economy said:

“While we welcome proposals to link the Cardiff area to a super-fast broadband network there are still parts of Wales struggling to get any broadband connection at all. Wales has been stuck in the slow lane of the information super highway for far too long, with the average broadband speed here slower than London and Scotland.”

BT’s installation of fibre optic broadband is the largest investment in super-fast broadband ever seen in the UK with the project set to cost BT up to £1.5bn.

More than 500,000 customers across the UK will benefit from the first phase of the BT installation scheme, with the next set of locations, serving a million homes and businesses to be announced in the autumn.

By 2012, BT is hoping that 40% of UK homes and businesses (circa 10 million premises) will be able to access super fast fibre optic broadband.