Better broadband is 'number one request' from rural Welsh firms

The importance of good quality broadband to rural businesses cannot be overstated and can make the difference to their success or failure.

That’s according to Mark Williams, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Mr Williams, the MP for Ceredigion, said his constituency was among the top 10 in the UK for low broadband speeds.

In a Westminster Hall debate, he told MPs that decent network access and speeds were often the difference between “keeping afloat or going under” for small businesses and better broadband was “the number one request” he received from them.

Mr Williams said he was disappointed that the target of linking up 96 per cent of Wales to superfast broadband has not yet been met. Instead, the figure has only just increased to around 87 per cent.

However, Culture Minister Ed Vaizey said that there had been huge strides forward in superfast broadband access. He said that, in 2011, fewer than one in three Welsh homes had access to the higher speed broadband but the figure would reach the expected 97 per cent by 2017.

The Culture Minister claimed that the “corner had now been turned on rural broadband access”, the BBC reported.

Mr Vaizey said that in the last five years, more than half (55 per cent) of homes in the Ceredigion constituency had received access to higher speed internet and the figure would reach 85 per cent this year.

Mr Williams called the debate to discuss the current access to broadband in Wales. He emphasised the economic importance of the service to MPs and said that he welcomed the recognition at government level that connectivity is vital. The MP said it should not be left to the market to decide what level of access there should be.

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