Minister admits broadband access still a problem for Wales

Whilst the government continues to strive to ensure broadband is made available to all, including those in rural areas, over the coming years, one minister has admitted that in Wales many people are still struggling to access the Internet.

As part of the Digital Britain initiative, which was launched earlier this year, the government has pledged to ensure that broadband services are available to all over the coming few years, promising to bridge the digital divide that has been seen between urban and rural areas across the UK. The government has made a commitment to provide access to broadband, with speeds of at least 2Mbps, by 2012.

However, one minister has said that accessing broadband in parts of Wales still remains a problem, although he added that the government was still committed to addressing this issue. Sion Simon, who is the Creative Industries Minister, said that in parts of rural Wales access to broadband was a real issue, and he added that at present Wales was getting a ‘raw deal’ when it came to broadband access.

Mr Simon stated: “You are right that Wales currently gets a raw deal from commercially provided broadband. The commitment is for universal broadband at a minimum of two megabits per second across the UK by 2012″. He said that he wanted work to start earlier in these parts of Wales so that broadband networks could be extended to more rural areas.

He added that he wanted to see all homes covered by DAB radio by 2015, adding that Dab coverage was also very poor. He stated: “One of the things that was really important in this was to bring to the industry and to the consumers some certainty and some clarity. So, yes, we’re very clear that 2015 is the date at which the national and current, big local broadcasters who are on FM will move over to DAB.”

Source – http://news.bbc.co.uk