Wales suffering with UK’s slowest broadband speeds
TWELVE of the bottom 20 wards in the UK with the slowest broadband download speeds are in Wales, a newly released report has found.
The figures, released by the House of Commons Library, show rural Wales has among the worst download speeds in the UK.
Abererch in Gwynedd has the slowest download speed of all UK council wards at 2.7Mb/s (megabits per second).
It’s followed by Llandinam, Powys, Devauden, Monmouthshire, and Trelech, Carmarthenshire.
Of the top 20 wards with the worst broadband in the UK four are in North Wales counties, with three in Ceredigion.
Liz Saville Roberts MP said rural householders are suffering disproportionately when it comes to broadband speeds,
More than half of householders in her Dwyfor Meirionnydd constituency receive broadband connection speeds of under 10Mb/s, the very minimum acceptable download speed set by the government
She said: “These figures serve to reaffirm the disproportionate divide between those areas which are able to access superfast broadband and those rural communities struggling to achieve the government’s own baseline download speed.
“It’s shocking that out of the ten worst-performing areas for broadband speeds, seven are in Wales, with two in my constituency. Indeed, of those regions identified as having shockingly poor download speeds, north-west Wales fares the worst.
“It should be appreciated that people living in rural areas find the glacial pace at which superfast broadband is being rolled out is aggravated by all-round poor connectivity. Many of my constituents are unable to access what Ofcom recognises as the speed necessary to deliver an ‘acceptable user experience’, required for basic usage such as web browsing, streaming and video calling.
“Upgrading digital infrastructure in rural areas is crucial to ensuring that the rural economy is not further disadvantaged. The current situation evidently puts businesses at a disadvantage and may make potential employers think twice about investing in such areas.”
This is echoed by one of her constituents, Mike Kirwin, who runs his own business, bringing internet to music festivals. He said: “It’s putting a huge stress on my business and regularly puts me at a disadvantage. One of my neighbours gets up at 4am to do his paperwork because it’s the only time he can get usable internet.”
Pryderi ap Rhisiart, who runs a glamping firm in Llwyndyrys, near Pwllheli, has had to go to extraordinary lengths to get internet.
“We have to keep our website up to date and take bookings through it, and last night it was so bad I had to go to Wetherspoons just to get a connection,” he said.
According to a recent Ofcom’s Connected Nations report Cardiff has the fastest internet speed in Wales – and makes the top 10 in the UK as well.
The median internet speed in the city was 24 Mb/s.
The same report showed that Blaenau Gwent leads the way for superfast broadband connections in Wales at 94%, compared to the 85% it had in 2014. Ofcom also estimates that in Cardiff and Swansea there is a coverage of 92% and 91%, respectively.
Merthyr Tydfil and, again, Carmarthenshire have the worst superfast broadband coverage in Wales at 28% and 37% respectively.