6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the steps taken when it is decided that a community cannot be connected under the Superfast Cymru programme? OAQ(5)0221(FM)[W]

When communities ask about the accessibility to Superfast Cymru, and it’s obvious that BT won’t be providing that service, it’s possible for them to follow other options through the Access Broadband Cymru scheme. Superfast Cymru, for example, is built on the basis of assisting communities where there is no commercial means of assisting them. But there will be alternative means of helping communities outside those two categories.

Thank you for that response. We should celebrate, of course, the thousands of connections that have been made under the Superfast Cymru programme, but underneath those positives, of course, there are communities the length and breadth of Wales that cannot access broadband. I can tell you about the Brynsiencyn area where the famous Halen Môn company still can’t access superfast broadband. I can tell you about Llanddona, where 14 families are desperate to have superfast broadband and want to pay for it but can’t access it. The problem is that they aren’t given an explanation as to why they can’t get that access. Would the First Minister agree with me that a cost-benefit analysis should be published by Openreach so that people, first of all, can see why their area is too expensive to connect, and, secondly, as a tool to find an alternative way of providing that connection?

It is important that BT should tell communities why it’s not possible to link them up to superfast broadband. Of course, it is not the aim of Superfast Cymru is to look at whether something can be done commercially, but to ensure that the service is available. So, I think Openreach is duty-bound to say why it’s too much of a problem. Having said that, of course, as I said earlier, it is possible for people to look at schemes such as the Access Broadband Cymru scheme in order to receive funding to assist them to receive broadband ultimately. But it is important that BT gives the reasons why there have been problems up to now.

First Minister, access to adequate broadband has been a huge issue for us in Pembrokeshire too. I do welcome the steps announced by the Minister last week to assist those communities that can’t be connected under the Superfast Cymru programme, and I understand that there will be some engagement activities happening now. I wonder, in these circumstances, can you tell us how the Welsh Government will promote these developments, especially for those living in more rural and isolated communities, to ensure that everyone is aware of this?

Well, another review will be undertaken during the autumn in order to see what kind of options are available to us publicly to assist some of the communities that don’t fit into Superfast Cymru. But they can still, of course, look at the Access Broadband Cymru scheme in order to ensure that access to broadband is available to them if they don’t fit into Superfast Cymru.

First Minister, we’ve pretty much moved on since the Superfast Cymru initiative was started. In fact, there are three other types of broadband or fibre-optic, and now I believe it’s called hyper-optic broadband, which is 128 times faster than the superfast that we are fitting throughout Wales. What we’ve got is the equivalent of a four-lane highway merging into a winding country lane. Of course, we’ve got broadband all the way up to the boxes, and then we’re using 128-year-old technology to connect the houses to it. So, my question to you is: first of all, what are you going to do to ensure that new-build premises actually have the fibre-to-the-premises connections? Also, what are we able to do to allow houses that have broadband to the box at the end of the street to actually have the fibre all the way to their homes as well, if that’s what they require?

Well, it’s interesting, in the sense of whether we can require developers, either through the building regs or probably more likely through section 106 agreements, to put in place state-of-the-art connections to the boxes? He’s right: there is a mixture of technologies in place in terms of the British phone system, because it lacked investment for so many years. What we’re trying to do with Superfast Cymru is to get most people to a position where they can download video, download music and listen, and download documents in a reasonable amount of time. But it’s true to say that it won’t be the fastest in the world, given the fact that we know that there are faster systems elsewhere. They will require substantial investment, but he raises an interesting suggestion, though I wonder whether developers would have a different view as to whether we should require developers, then, to put in place the most up-to-date technology possible when they get planning permission.