FIRST Minister Carwyn Jones has been hearing how the FibreSpeed project is transforming the economic and social landscape in North Wales.
The Welsh Labour leader and Edwina Hart, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Technology, were among the Assembly Members visiting a special presentation at the Senedd earlier this week.
Since going live little more than two years ago, more than 120 businesses have connected to FibreSpeed’s innovative fibre-optic network and many more continue to join.
Rural villages and so-called “broadband not-spots” communities are also connecting thanks to cutting-edge wireless technologies capable of reaching deep into the Welsh countryside.
The First Minister was particularly interested in how the residents of Rhiwlas, near Bangor, were using FibreSpeed to bring broadband to more than 70 households in the village.
Mr Jones also heard how the network has created a vibrant market for IT communications resellers. FibreSpeed has enabled IT firms – many of them based in the region – to offer services such as remote hosting and cloud computing which until now were too expensive or simply not feasible in many areas of Wales.
FibreSpeed is a successful Welsh Government intervention project that delivers fast digital communication services, such as the Internet, to businesses and communities across the region at prices comparable to more urban areas of the UK.
Access to the network is sold on a wholesale basis to a range of IT resellers who in turn create packages and services with the potential to transform business or “light-up” broadband not-spots.
Existing business users come from all sectors and range from SMEs employing a dozen people to business-park enterprises employing hundreds.