Broadband Services

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy and Transport – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 22 January 2020.

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Photo of Lee Waters Lee Waters Labour 1:35, 22 January 2020

Thank you very much. Joyce Watson is absolutely right to point out the European dimension to this, because the £200 million that we invested in Superfast Cymru was a combination of UK Government funding, European funding, and Welsh Government funding. So there was a contribution from the UK Government, but it took the Welsh Government's leadership to put that package together, and deploy that money, and manage that money, in an area that should have been done from Westminster. And now, as we look forward to what happens after we're outside of the EU, there remains a gap. We're currently carrying out an open market review, which allows us to gather information about the plans of commercial providers for future roll-out. And through that, we will then have an accurate picture of where the gaps remain. We'll be working with the UK Government to make sure we can marshal and draw down the investment to fill those gaps. But as I repeat, it does take the leadership of the UK Government to step into that space in a non-devolved area to bring the investment and make it happen, and not simply rely on us to make it so.