Llanwrtyd Wells is among the latest set of rural Welsh locations that could soon become ultrafast, with the support of UK Government broadband vouchers.
Openreach is now urging Llanwrtyd residents to get behind a bid to bring ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband to local homes and businesses.
Openreach has identified more than 600 homes and businesses in and around Llanwrtyd Wells as being within scope for Full Fibre and is urging local people to take the next step by applying for and pooling together free Government Gigabit Vouchers to help fund the build..
The company is warning that the town risks missing out on a once-in-a-lifetime full fibre upgrade, if not enough residents apply for free UK Government broadband vouchers, which can be used to secure faster speeds and greater reliability.
The scheme is currently 35 pledges short of its full funding target.
In total, 50 communities across Wales making up nearly 25,000 properties in some of the most rural parts of Wales could take advantage of this ultrafast upgrade.
If enough people sign up, homes and businesses in Llanwrtyd Wells will join more than 900,000 properties across Wales that already have access to full fibre broadband.
Martin Williams, Director of Partnerships for Openreach in Wales, said: “This is a really exciting opportunity for people living in Llanwrtyd Wells to bring all the benefits of ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband to their community.
“Our Fibre Community Partnership programme has meant that we’ve been able to potentially bring hundreds more communities across the UK, into our Full Fibre build plans. But building out the network to these harder to reach locations is still challenging – which is why its only possible with everyone working together – you, your neighbours and Openreach.
“Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make their community one of the best-connected places in the UK.”
“We’re investing £15 billion to build full fibre broadband to 25 million homes – and more than six million of those will be in the toughest third of the UK – but we can’t upgrade the whole country alone. This latest support from government is a vital part of that process.”
Once the pledge target for the scheme is reached, residents need to ensure they then validate their vouchers with the Government so that Openreach can confirm that building work can get underway. As part of the funding conditions residents are asked to commit to ordering a full fibre service from a provider of their choice for at least 12 months once the new network is available, and confirm that they are connected.
Full fibre technology provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity; meaning fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands. It's also future-proof, which means it will serve generations to come and won’t need to be upgraded for decades.
Fibre optics - strands of glass around one-tenth the thickness of a human hair - transmit data using light signals. Fibre is smaller, lighter and more durable than copper cabling and less vulnerable to damage.
Similar to Llanwrtyd Wells, residents can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website: https://shorturl.at/eSORh
Once enough people pledge and validate their vouchers, Openreach engineers will start the build. This can take up to 12-18 months, and some properties may go live before others.
You can find out more at the Openreach website: www.openreach.com