Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:45 pm on 11 October 2016.
May I thank the Minister for her statement? Naturally, it’s a very important subject—superfast broadband. It’s been the subject of a number of comments from people in my region. Naturally, we welcome the fact that there has been progress in this work and we have received additional information about the situation, on a county-by-county basis. As the Minister has already said, this project has been a long-term one and a complex one, with several challenges to face.
Some of those—from looking at the table of the provision of broadband access in our counties, we see that places such as Ceredigion have only 60 per cent of premises with access to broadband. In Powys, the situation isn’t much better: 65 per cent of premises there have access to superfast broadband. I would hope, when this review takes place into how much work there is still to do—as you said here, in 2018 and onwards—that there will be a review of the number of premises in our most rural areas that are having problems at present in gaining access to broadband, because it is a matter of regret that those figures are so low in those counties, considering the fact that there has been very good progress in other areas.
Turning to the business aspect of things, it’s good to say that, over the years, BT has received significant funding from EU funds, such as ERDF and so on—around £250 million over the years. Business understands that that kind of investment is needed, but what business can’t see—those that have been talking to me, at least—is that their costs as businesses have also doubled and can be very high, just for them to gain access to superfast broadband. I understand that that is outwith any investment that this Government does make into the Superfast Cymru scheme, but that’s what’s of concern to businesses out there. I’ve had several meetings over the past few months about the availability of superfast broadband and, when it is available, the increasing costs to businesses—they have to pay a lot for that service. In that regard, I would ask the Minister, as well as having an update on the points as to how we’re going to improve the situation in Ceredigion and Powys, for people in those areas, would the Minister be willing to meet with some business leaders who have been voicing their concerns in the Swansea region in order for me to give assurance to our businesses, which are increasingly reliant on these services, that there is certainty about the way forward in terms of the provision and in terms of the costs. Thank you very much.