Welsh government attempts to plug gaps left by BT in superfast broadband rollout with new project

Welsh government claims it accepts BT's issues are 'real' as it pushes forward with £3m project

The Welsh government is looking for alternative ways to ensure that all premises in Wales are connected to ‘superfast' broadband services by June 2016, because its current broadband provider BT has reported issues in certain locations that will prevent it from extending services to the whole of the country.

The Welsh government signed a deal with BT for the ‘Superfast Cymru' programme, which, when combined with BT's own commercial fibre rollout in the country, aimed to provide 96 per cent of Wales with a 'world-class' fibre broadband network.

In a notice on the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the Welsh government explained that BT had reported several issues in certain locations, which prevented the rollout to be extended to all premises including:

- Legacy network architecture, such as ‘exchange-only lines' preventing standard product deployment

- Relatively low forecast revenue density for standard product development, such as business parks where investment may be more involved than in residential areas

- Relatively high-cost of deploying non-standard products, some of which may exceed cost per premise expectations

The government said that it "accepted these issues are real" and has therefore decided to establish a project to procure a service that provides ‘superfast' broadband to the areas affected. It wants to promote the maximum possible competition from across the market, taking into account all of the various technical solutions.

It added that the new project may use additional grant aid funding "over and above that secured for Superfast Cymru".

The seven-year contract is divided into two lots: one for north Wales, and one for south Wales. The total value of the deal could be worth between £1m and £3m. Tenders may be submitted for one or more lots.