Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, said that the need to ‘strengthen and enhance’ digital infrastructure is ‘absolutely crucial’ if we are going to ensure our rural communities are viable places to live and work in the future.
Mr. George shared an event platform at the Royal Welsh Show with Brecon and Radnor AM, Kirsty Williams, the Farmers Union of Wales, Ofcom and representatives from the communications industry, to highlight why connectivity matters to rural Wales and examine plans for improving the availability of digital communications.
The event also explored the findings from Ofcom’s recently published report, The Availability of Communications Services in the UK, which outlines the availability of different communications services across the UK, examining how coverage varies between areas and how it might be improved.
Mr. George, who is also the Chair of the National Assembly’s Cross Party Group on Digital Communication, focused his comments on broadband availability in rural Wales and said that as a nation, Wales is poorly served by both standard and superfast broadband and that has been predominantly due to market failure.
However, he went on to say that change was coming due to direct public intervention by the Welsh Government through its Superfast Cymru project.
During his presentation, Mr. George said:
"Wales has tended to be behind the general UK curve when it comes to digital communications – we have been well behind with the development of digital communications infrastructure and continue to play catch-up, which certainly hasn’t helped our general economic performance at all.
"The Welsh Affairs Select Committee published a report last autumn stating that the digital gap between England and Wales was getting wider, which should be awake up call to us all in Wales.
"I’m acutely aware that the lack of basic broadband infrastructure and slow connection speeds are making local businesses in Montgomeryshire uncompetitive, particularly when compared to towns just over the border, which is having a detrimental impact right across the Mid Wales economy.
"The Farmers Union of Wales has rightly focused this week on the availability of broadband to rural businesses and there are probably many farmers attending the Show this week that have been frustrated by the historic service they have received to date, which in some cases has probably prevented diversification and business growth.
"However, change is coming but it must come quickly.
"The Welsh Government does have ambitious targets for improving communications infrastructure – its Superfast Cymru Project is a joint project with BT worth over £400m and it aims to deliver high speed broadband to 96 per cent of Welsh homes and businesses by 2016.
"However, it is critical that it is delivered on time, on budget and in a fair way, so that the most difficult areas of rural Wales are not left until last.
"The Government also needs to work on how it’s going to deliver a service to the 4% that won’t be covered by this scheme; does it intend to work with other Welsh internet service providers to deliver more satellite-based solutions, so those areas are not left behind?
"It will be crucial that my Assembly colleagues and I continue to keep the pressure on both the Welsh Government and BT, because broadband infrastructure in a rapidly changing and integrated world is no longer a luxury – it has now become like any other household utility – an absolute necessity."
- Key Findings from Ofcom’s Availability of Communications Services in the UK.
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- Wales is less well served by both standard and superfast broadband. Ofcom estimates that around 100,000 homes in Wales are unable to receive actual download speeds of 2 Mbit/s and 800,000 homes in Wales are unable to receive superfast broadband (headline download speeds of at least 30 Mbit/s). In Wales, rural locations are more than 13 times less likely than urban locations to have superfast broadband.
- For mobile services, even where outdoor coverage delivered to households is good, there can be particular challenges associated with providing coverage inside buildings, on roads and on rail. Ofcom estimates that 10,000 homes in Wales are unable to receive a 2G mobile service and 30,000 homes are unable to receive a 3G service. The relatively low levels of 3G availability in Wales can be explained by the size, density and composition of the local population and the topography of the landscape as well as rurality.
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- Ofcom estimates that just over 5,000 homes in Wales are unable to receive both a standard broadband and 3G mobile service.
- While analogue radio coverage is nearly ubiquitous, DAB digital radio is not and Wales is the least well served nation for both BBC and commercial services. We estimate that 85.8% and 59.3% of households in Wales are able to receive UK-wide BBC DAB and commercial DAB respectively.
- Where markets cannot deliver coverage to those who need it, public bodies often take action. The report looks at several case studies to consider the effectiveness of these types of intervention.
- For example, the Welsh Government’s Broadband Support Scheme is a subsidy scheme to support the provision of accessible and affordable broadband services to areas of Wales that are ‘not spots’ and ‘slow spots’ (receiving less than 2 Mbit/s). Via the scheme, anyone who requires a basic broadband service in these areas can access financial support (up to £1000 per application) to purchase a solution. Applications can be received from `residents, SMEs, voluntary/community sector organisations.
- Furthermore, public and commercial investment totalling £425m will deliver fibre broadband to parts of Wales not covered by commercial plans through the Superfast Cymru project. 96% of homes and businesses are expected to have access to speeds of at least 24 Mbit/s by 2016.