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South Wales Guardian
22-05-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Call for faster progress on rural broadband in Caerfyrddin
Ann Davies, MP for Caerfyrddin, met with Sir Chris Bryant, Minister of State at the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), to discuss rural broadband and mobile coverage earlier this month. The meeting, held in Westminster, was also attended by senior officials from DSIT and Building Digital UK (BDUK). These are the executive agencies delivering the government's major digital infrastructure programmes, including Project Gigabit and the Shared Rural Network. Project Gigabit aims to provide gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach areas, while the Shared Rural Network is designed to improve 4G mobile coverage in rural and remote communities. Around 3 per cent of the Caerfyrddin constituency remains in 'not spot' areas where no broadband is currently available. Ms Davies said: "Reliable broadband and mobile coverage are not luxuries — they are essential services that rural communities rely on to live, work, and thrive. "Whether it's running a farm, studying from home, or accessing vital healthcare, people in Caerfyrddin must not be left behind." "I will continue working to ensure that the voices and concerns of our rural communities are heard loud and clear in Westminster." She remains in regular contact with Openreach, who keep her updated on local infrastructure progress, and she frequently meets with Carmarthenshire County Council's broadband development officer to ensure residents' concerns are heard and acted upon.
BBC News
10-04-2025
- BBC News
Faster broadband allows Halkirk school to keep on dancing
A dance school says a reliable broadband connection for the small village where it is based means routines are no longer disrupted by music stopping speeds are now 3,000 times faster on average following a fibre optic upgrade, which dance teacher Tanya Horne said meant fewer interruptions when streaming community of 950 people has gone from a speed of 2.8 megabits per second (Mbps) - one of the slowest in the UK - to up to 8,000 Mbps, according to the company that installed Horne said: "We'd got used to having bad broadband - the music would just cut out. We don't need to worry about that now." Communications watchdog Ofcom defines "decent broadband" as a connection providing at least 10 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload speed from a fixed-line said the average download speed for rural areas of the UK was 56 Mbps. Halkirk, near Thurso, had its service upgrade by Highland company is rolling out faster broadband across parts of Scotland with support from the Scottish government and Building Digital UK, a project that involves the UK and Scottish Horne said a more reliable connection "opened up the world" to her and her 100 community is more than two hours' drive from the nearest city, Inverness. The dance teacher said: "The dancers could benefit from online practice programmes provided by a world champion Highland dancer 250 miles away and CrossFit with a trainer in the United States, to name just a couple. "They'll now be able to do that as a group, which will be so much more valuable as a learning experience. "Likewise, I have lectured and given demonstrations for fellow professionals in North America and with good broadband we can continue that sharing of expertise in Highland dancing around the world."Ms Horne said last year a local fiddler and accordionist providing live music at a special added: "One of our younger girls came up to me afterwards and said how nice it was to dance to continuous music - without the buffering." The Ulbster Arms Hotel said it had also benefited from the improved manager Jess Dreaves said: "We have 13 rooms within our hotel as well as five lodges, so having the best broadband connection that can deliver for dozens of users is essential."The operators of the village hall, called the Ross Institute, now plans to diversify into new sectors to generate Village Council trustee Trish Bremner said: "We only just got broadband in the hall last year but, with our new reliable connectivity we see the potential for hosting conferences and weddings."
