Superfast Cymru Connects ‘Most Remote’ Location In Wales With 16km Of Overhead Fibre

Dinas Mawddwy, the most remote location in Wales to benefit from the state-assisted rollout of superfast broadband in the country, has now been connected, with early adopters benefiting from speeds of up to 330Mbps thanks to a Fibre to the Premise (FTTP) network in the town.

Engineers from BT used 16 kilometres of overhead fibre, a distance that has not been achieved elsewhere in the UK, and 20 kilometres of underground cable to connect the town in Gwynedd, North Wales with the rest of the Openreach network.

More premises will be added in the coming months using Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology, but local leaders and businesses claim the arrival of fibre will bring a range of social and economic benefits.

Superfast broadband Wales

“This is excellent news for the residents and businesses of Dinas Mawddwy and shows the lengths the Superfast Cymru programme is going so people can enjoy the benefits of fast fibre broadband,” said Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, Julie James.

“The sheer distance of the overhead fibre to reach the village is an achievement which hasn’t been realised before throughout the UK and shows our commitment to connect rural communities in Wales.

One of the first properties to be connected is Festival Art and Books, an online seller of rare books and specialist in JRR Tolkien-related art and literature.

“I am delighted superfast broadband has come to our valley as it allows me to run my business from Wales but have an international presence,” said owner Mark Faith. ““We’re a rural business that relies heavily on the internet. We haven’t had the service long but I can already see how having fibre will open up new opportunities to develop our business.”

Government funding

Superfast Cymru is the largest public-private broadband partnership in the UK, with £425 million worth of funding.

BT, the Welsh government, UK government and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), It plans to connect 96 percent of homes and businesses in Wales to fibre by 2016. The government has provided £57 million through BDUK, while the Welsh government has invested £58 million and BT’s contribution, including its commercial investment, to the rollout of fibre in Wales is believed to be £220 million. The remainder is being supplied by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The programme has already reached 230,000 properties and work will start on every telephone exchange earmarked for an upgrade by September next year. It is anticipated that 690,000 premises will eventually be covered by 2016, connecting 96 percent of Wales.

BT has used a number of novel methods to connect remote parts of the UK to superfast broadband services. Most recently, it brought fibre to the Isles of Scilly by diverting an unused undersea cable linking the UK and Spain towards the archipelago.

Government broadband projects like Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) have so far connected 1.4 million homes and businesses with 80 percent of the UK now having access to superfast broadband. The government says it is firmly on track to reach its target of 95 percent coverage by 2017.

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