Written question WQ95563
- Asked by
- Darren MillarConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 1 day
Question
Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the financial support available from the Welsh Government for households, businesses and communities in Wales to improve access to reliable high speed broadband services?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Planning
Responsibility for improving broadband connectivity in Wales rests with the UK Government. Despite telecommunications not being devolved to Wales, due to historic under-investment at UK level over the past decade or more, we have helped provide access to fast and reliable broadband.
The Welsh Government is finalising a business case for reinvesting returned funds from our Superfast Cymru roll-out to improve digital connectivity at premises that do not have access to at least superfast broadband speeds (30Mbps). A further announcement will be made in due course.
Access Broadband Cymru is a Welsh Government intervention to offer fast, reliable broadband to eligible premises. It can offer assistance to individual properties currently not able to access superfast broadband by providing grant aid to receive it through suitable technologies.
The scheme requires immediate and significant work to adjust its operation to reflect the evolving broadband market and the ongoing evolution of available technology solutions. To enable this work to take place the scheme was paused to all new applicants and new applications from 7thAugust 2024.
We anticipate that the scheme will re-open to applications in the Spring of 2025.