GRAHAM: ACTION NEEDED ON BROADBAND IN SOUTH EAST WALES  

27.01.2011

Speaking in the First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd this afternoon, William Graham AM called for the Assembly Government to make an assessment of the BT ‘Race to Infinity’ vote. The vote, which ran over the last three months of 2010, was used to determine which five UK towns would receive fibre broadband. 

‘Despite being in the top five spots for most of the poll’s duration, Castleton in Newport fell out of contention after a BT inquiry into voting patterns. It is only fair that when BT comes to next decide which areas of the UK receive the latest generation of fibre broadband that Castleton is placed at the front of the queue. It remains a disgrace that none of the towns guaranteed to receive fibre broadband by 2012 are in Wales.’ 

The Conservative AM for South Wales East continued: 

‘In some areas of South Wales East the problem extends beyond missing out on superfast broadband, I know of constituents in the region who are still unable to access broadband at all owing to living in so-called broadband not-spots. The Assembly Government’s broadband support scheme is making some headway in assisting in bringing broadband to rural communities but more must be done to ensure that every community in Wales has access to a fast and reliable broadband service.’