Kirsty welcomes work on Brecon & Radnorshire broadband notspots

3.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 23rd Jun 2009

Kirsty Williams AM for Brecon and Radnorshire has welcomed confirmation by the Minister for Economy and Transport that BT is to undertake an evaluation of 3 Brecon & Radnorshire notspots, namely, Felinfach, Garthbrengy (Brecon exchange) and Tirabad on the Llanwrtyd Wells exchange.

In a recent letter to Kirsty the deputy First Minister revealed that:

"BT is currently undertaking a study on 60 notspots across Wales to determine if further areas to be addressed. This study is being carried out on a large scale to determine if BT is able to provide a broadband service to these notspots, as well as likely speeds, under the terms and conditions of the BT contract. If following this exercise BT identifies any notspots that it will not be able to address under the current contract, alternative provision will have to be made for these areas."

Kirsty Williams said: "Along with the local communities I have been pushing hard for BT and the Welsh Government to provide broadband to Felinfach and Tirabad and I am delighted that they, along with Garthbrengy are being included in this study.

"It is unacceptable that rural areas such as ours continue to be left behind with little or no access to broadband, leaving individuals isolated and unable to access services which are taken for granted by so many. The broadband gap also makes it harder for many of our businesses to compete in the global and national markets.

"Whilst this news is welcome it is crucial that the fastest possible connection is put in place, so that the current broadband gap between the haves and have nots, is not replaced with a broadband gap between super-fast urban and super-slow rural areas."