North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has challenged the Welsh Government over the delivery of Superfast Broadband to North-West Wales and the removal of its target to deliver superfast broadband to ‘every property’ in Wales.
Mr Isherwood raised the matter with the Leader of the House, Julie James AM, in the Assembly Chamber on Wednesday.
He said:
“Analysis published by Which? in June last year found that Anglesey was thirteenth out of the 20 worst places for Broadband in the UK, behind only Powys and Monmouthshire in Wales.
“On 30 January, you announced the first details of your new Strategy to help to make ‘fast and reliable broadband’ available to ‘every property’ in Wales, with three lots going out to tender. The related tender document is now available online, stating only that the aim is to ‘deliver superfast broadband services to as many premises as possible’ in Wales.
“So, when will the tender for north-west Wales - the Lot 1 tender for north-west Wales - open and close? And why has the target for ‘every property’ in Wales been removed?”
The Leader of the House replied:
“This is always a balance between numbers and getting to communities that have a specific recorded need.
“Part of the process of the tender is to see what's available for what price. We've asked the market to tell us what they're able to do, and then we can make specific bespoke solutions for places that have either indicated already that they want that or are left out of the market calculation. So, I'm afraid it's quite a complex procurement to run.”
Mr Isherwood added: “Although Julie James didn’t answer my question about when the tender process will open and close, I am submitting a written question to her asking for this information, which applies to three lots – Lot 1 in North-West Wales, Lot 2 in East Wales and Lot 3 in south-West Wales”.