Diolch, Lywydd. Today, I want to provide you with an update on the progress of Superfast Cymru, together with our emerging work to address the final few per cent of premises not part of the project or commercial roll-outs and a refreshed approach to communications and marketing.

I’m sure that I do not need to impress on Members the growing importance of connectivity to homes and businesses. The opportunities it affords are limitless, and we need as many people as possible to be able to access it, but also to make the most of that access. Our aim, as outlined in ‘Taking Wales Forward’, is to bring people together digitally by offering fast, reliable broadband to every property in Wales.

We continue to make solid progress on Superfast Cymru. To the end of June this year, we have provided access to superfast broadband to over 610,000 premises that would not have been able to receive superfast broadband speeds without our intervention. Today I have also provided Members with information about progress by local authority. Let me be clear: that’s 610,000 premises across Wales that can now enjoy broadband download speeds averaging around 66 Mbps as a result of this investment. This compares to an average speed of less than 10 across Wales when we started this work in 2013. However, this remains a complex project and deployment remains challenging. BT Openreach needs to maintain the momentum if it is to hit its contractual targets. My officials and I are monitoring progress very closely as the project moves towards completion.

However, this is not just about numbers of premises and speed. The real benefit of Superfast Cymru is going to be how it is improving lives and supporting businesses. I’d like to share two examples with you. The mother of an autistic boy has told us how her son uses superfast connectivity to use specialist apps and websites on his iPad. He reads on his Kindle and does and submits his homework via an online portal. With a household of five, superfast broadband means he can still get online even if everyone else is online too. An entrepreneur in Conwy county, north Wales, who runs a cake-baking business uses broadband on a daily basis to communicate with customers, upload all her images quickly to a cloud storage system, keep up to date on social media and learn new skills from webinars and tutorials. Superfast broadband has enabled her to be far more efficient, dedicating more time to baking and decorating, rather than waiting for documents to download or trying to get in touch with customers.

However, the roll-out has had its fair share of challenges and Members regularly write to me seeking answers and updates on a range of issues related to the roll-out. I thought it would be helpful if I addressed some of the common themes here. Firstly, the build phase of the Superfast Cymru project is due to be completed in June 2017. As with other major contracts of this size, there will then be a six- month window for Openreach to complete any in-build elements ahead of a contract drop dead date of 31 December 2017. You will all recall that the project was extended to June 2017 to allow for the inclusion of an additional 40,000 premises. The extension followed an open-market review which showed the number of premises that needed to be addressed under the project had increased, for example because of new-build premises or where premises due for roll-out under telecommunications companies’ own plans had been deemed economically unviable by them.

Secondly, BT is delivering superfast fibre broadband using two technologies—fibre to the cabinet and fibre to the premises. Fibre to the cabinet involves installing a fibre roadside cabinet close to an existing copper cabinet and connecting the two so that the broadband signal travels to the home or business over the existing copper telephone cable. This is the most straightforward, cost-effective and common option, as it enables BT to improve the broadband for multiple premises at once. Fibre to the premises is more complicated. It involves extending a fibre cable to the premises itself. In many cases, the solution for each premises is bespoke. This adds to the cost, complexity and time taken to deliver.

Fibre cannot be the answer for every premises. The Access Broadband Cymru scheme will continue to play a part in helping people to achieve a step change in their broadband speed, and the ultrafast connectivity voucher will continue to help businesses get the speeds they need to ensure they remain competitive. Furthermore, we have commissioned Airband Community Internet Ltd to deliver to around 2,000 business premises using a wireless solution. This work is progressing at pace and will be completed by December of this year.

As the Superfast Cymru and Airband projects enter the home straight, we cannot rest on our laurels. We will need to focus on what comes next and how we are going to reach the final few per cent of premises. We’ve already started work to define where those premises will be. On 9 September, we published a public consultation to primarily engage with the telecoms industry to understand their deployment plans. This will enable us to target premises currently not part of any roll-out to further extend the Superfast Cymru project using £12.9 million of funding generated through the predicted take-up levels. We hope that this funding can be used to provide superfast broadband access ahead of the end of the current contract in December 2017. This extra funding will, however, only go part of the way to addressing the remaining premises. That is why I have asked officials to look at how deployment can continue into 2018 and beyond.

Work is already well under way, with plans to launch a further detailed formal open-market review process later in the autumn. This is required to underpin the evidence-based assessment of where public intervention can take place under EU state aid guidelines. Only once the outcome of the review has been analysed will we be in a position to confirm whether and how a new procurement to provide access for further premises can be taken forward. Procurement activity could take place during 2017 with a new contract to commence in early 2018. However, I need to be clear that we cannot provide fibre connectivity at any cost, as providing value for money for the public purse is also vital.

Work is also in hand to explore future funding options, including EU funding. We will be pressing BT to release further funding that it generates through take-up of the existing Superfast Cymru roll-out so that we can reinvest this funding in future deployments. We will also be seeking further support from the UK Government as well as looking to our own budget.

Like the two examples I mentioned earlier, we want to make sure that everyone can make the most of the access they have to superfast broadband. This month, we have begun a multi-layered regional communications and engagement programme across Wales to raise awareness of the benefits of superfast broadband to consumers and to encourage use of the technology available to them.

We will be delivering activity in every local authority in Wales between now and December 2017 through a blended approach of events, public relations, community engagement and advertising. We are working closely with local authorities to provide them with a toolkit to promote the use of superfast broadband, in addition to our own activity in each area.

Finally, we are developing our website further to include personalised advice for customers and consumers to help people make more informed choices about their broadband. Members can be certain that I remain committed to offering fast, reliable broadband to every property in Wales, that plans to tackle the final few per cent are already in hand and that we are putting in place a programme to encourage consumers to make the most of the opportunities that this superfast broadband provides.