27
August
2014
|
23:00
Europe/London

Monmouth is first town in county to benefit from superfast fibre broadband

Fast fibre broadband is now available in Monmouth thanks to Superfast Cymru, Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, Ken Skates AM announced today during a visit to the town.

This is the first area in Monmouthshire to benefit from the Superfast Cymru programme.

The first households and businesses in the area are now able to access fast fibre broadband. Superfast broadband enables businesses to work faster and more efficiently, benefitting from faster upload and download speeds and reducing the need to travel, helping to create jobs and expand businesses.

At home superfast broadband is not just about a faster internet experience or about doing one thing quicker. It’s about everyone in the house being able to do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether that is streaming films, downloading music, studying or keeping in touch with loved ones.

Communities, including Cross Ash, Little Mill, Gobion, Llantilio and Raglan, will also benefit from high speed fibre broadband by summer 2015, as part of the Superfast Cymru roll-out.

Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, Ken Skates AM was joined by BT Programme Director, Ed Hunt to take a look at the cabinet in Monmouth which is now delivering fast fibre speeds.

The Deputy Minister said: “This is excellent news for Monmouth. Superfast fibre broadband has the power to transform the way we do business, the way we keep in touch, how we access entertainment and how we use public services.

“Residents and businesses in Monmouth are the latest to benefit with more communities in Monmouthshire set to have access to superfast broadband over the next 12 months.

“The Superfast Cymru programme is probably the most ambitious in the UK. We aim to reach 96% of properties by the end of Spring 2016 making fibre available to more people more quickly than the rest of the UK.

“Wales will not just become one of the most connected countries in the world by 2016 – it is going further, faster and quicker in reaching this ambitious goal.”

Ed Hunt said: “Super-fast fibre broadband in Monmouth offers huge benefits to local residents and businesses and will help our local economy to flourish. Whatever you’re doing online, you can do it better and faster with fibre.

“Whether it’s shopping, downloading music and video, watching TV, social networking, studying or researching homework, once you’ve switched to fibre you’ll never look back.

“Outside the home, it also has huge potential for public services and local firms. Businesses tell us it’s helping them in a wealth of ways, from day to day activities like downloading software, collaborating with clients and moving large data files around to big business decisions like expanding the workforce or introducing better quality IT services at less cost. Superfast Cymru will be covering urban and rural, business and residential premises throughout Monmouthshire”.

Superfast Cymru is the largest partnership of its kind in the UK. It is working to achieve, when combined with commercial roll-outs, the Welsh Government’s aim of providing 96% of premises in Wales with access to fast fibre broadband by the end of Spring 2016.

Households and businesses in these areas which want to take advantage of the benefits of fast fibre broadband should contact an internet service provider (ISP) of their choice to place an order.

Information about the roll-out is published on the Superfast Cymru website (www.superfast-cymru.com ) including a coverage map which provides details of roll-out plans looking approximately 12 months ahead.

Notes
For information about which exchange areas are already enabled go to the coverage map onhttp://www.superfast-cymru.com/where-and-when

Super-fast fibre optic broadband can be delivered as “fibre to the cabinet” (FTTC) or “fibre to the premises” (FTTP). FTTC is where the fibre connection is from the exchange to the street side cabinet with the remainder of the connection being over copper. Superfast Cymru will provide the majority of business and residential premises with the capability of accessing broadband at speeds in excess of 30Mbps by 2016. This is in line with the EU's policy of widespread Superfast broadband access by 2020. The programme will also enable access to speeds of over 100Mbps in a significant number of areas of Wales.

Further information about next generation broadband is available from www.bt.com/ngb