4. Will the First Minister make a statement on digital communications infrastructure in Wales? OAQ(5)0488(FM)

Through the Superfast Cymru project and ongoing, regular discussions with mobile network operators, Ofcom and the UK Government, we have facilitated access to fast fibre broadband to over 630,000 Welsh premises and secured confirmation of a 90 per cent mobile geographic coverage in Wales by the end of this year.

Can I congratulate the Welsh Government on progress in rolling out superfast broadband? As we move to address the final gaps in that and to improve on mobile connectivity, it’s clear that the topography of Wales, beautiful as it is, poses particular challenges to digital connectivity and that we may need greater proportionate access to infrastructure than other parts of the UK to reach the same level of coverage finally. I look forward to the Welsh Government’s mobile plan and I hope it contains steps to press operators to share infrastructure. But, in addition, will the First Minister confirm that the Welsh Government will look at how publicly owned land can be used, where appropriate, to locate digital infrastructure—and as we look post Brexit at how we use public funds to support land management, that we consider how future programmes can be used to incentivise the location of digital infrastructure in rural and semi-rural areas where they can make a difference to connectivity Wales-wide?

We will look carefully at regional economic funding in the context of the forthcoming mobile action plan, and during the next phase of superfast broadband development, to see how best this could support the targeted delivery of communications infrastructure on a more regional or local basis. There are some parts of Wales where there is no coverage. We know there are some parts of Wales—the Isle of Anglesey is one example, raised often in the Chamber by the Member for Ynys Môn—where there appears to be coverage, yet it’s not powerful enough to deliver data coverage. So, there are issues that will need to be resolved for the future and using regional economic funding is one way in which that might be done.

First Minister, I have received complaints from representatives of the business community on the quality of Wi-Fi services on trains running between Swansea and Paddington. This is often because of poor signal on the route. As this is a crucially important service for us here in Wales, what is your Government doing in collaboration with the Westminster Government and the private companies running the network to improve the signal along this route and also other routes across Wales?

This is all important. As one who has used that service many times, I have to say that the majority of the time. Of course, it’s one thing to have the service on the train, but it’s something else for the service to work effectively. We are in touch with First Great Western, of course, in order to ensure that the service will ultimately improve. I know it’s possible—I’ve seen it on other trains where the system works well—and we wish to ensure, of course, by considering the franchise next year, that this is something that will be quite normal in every train in Wales.

First Minister, you mentioned fast fibre in your answer to Jeremy Miles’s initial question about broadband services, and I’ll start with some good news that the village of Tintern on the River Wye in my constituency has been very luckily recently connected to a superfast broadband box, which is pleasing the village no end. On the flip side, in the rural hinterland of Trelleck Grange, a village just outside, they haven’t benefited from that box, and BT seem to be under the impression that the whole area is now being served by superfast broadband and that the problem has been dealt with. Can you liaise with BT to make sure that when a village in a rural area is connected, that a neighbouring area that isn’t so lucky is not then considered to have been dealt with in the same way, because those people then don’t have much hope for any end date to their broadband problems?

I will investigate the issue for the Member and will write to the Member with a response.

I think mine is a straightforward question and may have a straightforward answer. It’s fantastic work being done by Superfast Business Wales in their roadshows and their workshops right across the country, and as I look through a tremendous list of places they’re going to, it’s quite impressive how they’re raising the potential on how to get those connections up. But the one place that’s missing in all this—north, south, east and west—is one of the heartlands of great industry in south Wales, and it’s Bridgend. So, could I suggest that through his good offices and mine, we might persuade them to bring one of the roadshows to Bridgend, possibly north of the M4 in the Ogmore patch? [Laughter.]

Standing here, I can’t comment on behalf of the Assembly Member for Bridgend, but I’m sure that the Member’s words will find resonance with that Member.