Christmas comes early for the people of Nasareth

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Local parish councillor and Nasareth resident, OP Huws

An early Christmas gift has arrived for the people of Nasareth.

 
The first households in the rural Gwynedd village can now place orders for superfast broadband that will be able to deliver speeds up to 330Mbps – making them some of the best connected properties in the UK*. 
 
The superfast speeds enable much faster and better use of the internet. For example, all members of a household can quickly do their own thing online, all at the same time, whether that is streaming high definition films, downloading music, gaming, studying or keeping in touch with loved ones.
 
This has been made possible using technology called fibre to the premises (FTTP) broadband where fast fibre is run directly from the telephone exchange to the property, rather than to the roadside cabinet.
 
Across Gwynedd, Superfast Cymru has already supplied 45,500 homes and businesses with access to superfast broadband through a mixture of FTTP and Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) superfast broadband technology.
 
Welsh Government Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology, Julie James, said: “The fact that the first premises in the small rural community of Nasareth can now order superfast broadband shows how Superfast Cymru is making a difference across Wales, including in hard to reach areas.   The rollout began in Gwynedd and now 45,500 premises in the county have access to it.
 
“This has been a great year for Superfast Cymru with the number of premises able to receive faster broadband breaking the 500,000 barrier and Wales leading the way with superfast broadband availability amongst the devolved nations. 
 
“In 2016 the programme will push ahead bringing faster broadband speeds to areas which would otherwise not receive it.”
 
Ed Hunt, Superfast Cymru programme director, said: “It seems tremendously appropriate that a community with the name of Nasareth gets superfast broadband at Christmastime!
 
“The hamlet has joined the ever growing list of rural communities in Wales that can now start accessing superfast broadband.
 
“As the roll-out continues we will see more and more communities, like Nasareth, being able to realise the many benefits of receiving superfast broadband speeds.
 
“For those households and businesses that can access superfast broadband, I would urge them to sign up with a service provider – why not make it your new year’s resolution?”
 
Local parish councillor and Nasareth resident, OP Huws, said: “I welcome this service coming to the area as a fast and reliable broadband is essential for people living in rural communities.”
 
Superfast Cymru has now rolled out high-speed fibre broadband to more than 530,000 homes and businesses across the country since the start of the programme. It is the largest partnership of its kind in the UK and, when the Superfast Cymru programme is combined with the private sector’s commercial roll-out, it means that more than 1.26 million premises can now access fibre broadband in Wales.
 
The regulator Ofcom recognised that Wales has the highest availability of superfast broadband of any of the devolved nations**.
The Superfast Cymru programme is a huge undertaking that will involve laying 17,500kms of optical fibre cable, installing around 3,000 new green roadside cabinets and sees, on average, an additional 130 premises getting access to superfast broadband across Wales every hour.
 
Superfast Cymru is a partnership between the Welsh Government, UK Government, the European Regional Development Fund and BT.
 
For full details of the benefits of fast fibre broadband, how to register for updates on when it’s coming to an area and how to access it visit the Superfast Cymru website: www.superfast-cymru.com 
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* These are the top wholesale speeds available from BT’s local network business, Openreach, to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
 
** According to Ofcom’s Communications Market Report 2015.