More than 65% of St David’s now able to go superfast

Residents of St David’s will have an extra reason to celebrate this March 1st as more than 65 per cent of homes and businesses in Britain’s smallest city can now access superfast broadband thanks to Superfast Cymru.

With fewer than 2,000 inhabitants the city itself is the smallest in Britain, and is famous for being the final resting place of Wales’ patron saint St David.
Superfast Cymru is a partnership between the Welsh Government and BT, with additional funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

It is bringing superfast broadband speeds to areas which would otherwise not receive it.  No exchange area in Pembrokeshire was due to receive superfast broadband from the rollout by private companies as it was not deemed commercially viable for them alone to provide it.

Now more than 65per cent of premises served by the St David’s exchange can have superfast broadband should they wish to receive it, and the rollout is continuing as Openreach engineers connect more and more premises every day, often in challenging conditions.

Across Pembrokeshire as a whole more than 70 per cent of homes and businesses can receive superfast broadband as a result of Superfast Cymru, with work continuing across the county.

Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology Julie James said:

“St David’s is one of many areas across Wales which would have no access to superfast broadband without the intervention of Superfast Cymru.  Faster broadband brings many advantages for homes and businesses and while the rollout is far from over I am pleased that over 65 per cent of them in this beautiful and historic part of Wales can now also benefit.

“We have intervened to provide access to superfast services as private companies decided it was not commercially viable for them alone to roll-out fibre in these areas. Over 560,000 premises in all parts of Wales are now able to access it thanks to the programme and work is continuing to provide access for more homes and businesses.”

The superfast speeds enable much faster and better use of the internet.  For example, all members of a household can quickly do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether that is streaming high definition films, downloading music, gaming, studying or keeping in touch with loved ones.

The Superfast Cymru programme is a huge undertaking that will involve Openreach engineers laying 17,500kms of optical fibre cable, installing around 3,000 new green roadside cabinets and sees, on average, more than 100 premises getting access to superfast broadband across Wales every hour.
To find out whether they can receive superfast broadband households and businesses can visit www.superfast-cymru.com.

If households and businesses are able to receive superfast broadband the upgrade will not happen automatically and they should contact their Internet Service Provider (ISP) to change from conventional broadband.

The Welsh Government also provides grants for businesses to have Ultrafast broadband with up to £10,000 available for the installation of the services.  Homes and businesses which cannot receive superfast broadband through Superfast Cymru can also receive grants to have superfast broadband in other ways, such as satellite.  Further details on these schemes are available on: gov.wales/broadband.