Vale of Clwyd MP Dr James Davies has welcomed news that more than 4,000 homes and businesses in rural parts of the constituency are to benefit from Openreach’s ’Full Fibre’ broadband upgrade plans.
On Friday, Openreach announced plans to build ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband to at least three million more homes and businesses in some of the UK’s hardest to serve communities, of which 415,000 will be in Wales, including properties in rural areas of Denbighshire.
In the Vale of Clwyd constituency, areas served by exchanges in Trefnant, Dyserth and St Asaph will benefit from the upgrade.
Welcoming the announcement, James, who has been working with Openreach in a bid to resolve the ongoing problems some rural residents have with broadband accessibility, said:
“Having met and communicated with Openreach on numerous occasions to discuss the issues being experienced by people living in rural parts of the Vale of Clwyd, I am delighted that progress has been made and that 4,088 premises in rural areas of the constituency are to finally get the ultrafast and ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband that is needed in this day and age.
“Fibre technology creates connections capable of delivering speeds of up to 1GBps, which will address people’s needs not only today, but well into the future. Openreach is rolling out Full Fibre broadband in Prestatyn, Rhyl and Denbigh and it is great that more rural areas will now not be left behind. There is however still more work to do to ensure good connectivity for all rural residents.”
Connie Dixon, Openreach’s regional director for Wales, said:
“Building a new Ultrafast broadband network across Wales is a massive challenge and some parts of the country will inevitably require public funding. But our expanded build plan means taxpayer subsidies can be limited to only the hardest to connect homes and businesses. And with investments from other network builders, we’d hope to see that shrink further.
“This is a hugely complex, nationwide engineering project – second only to HS2 in terms of investment. It will help level-up the UK because the impact of Full Fibre broadband stretches from increased economic prosperity and international competitiveness, to higher employment and environmental benefits. We’re also delighted to continue bucking the national trend by creating more Welsh jobs, with apprentices joining in their droves to start their careers as engineers.”
All details of the upgrade can be found on the Openreach website: Connecting you to your fibre broadband network | Openreach
