Openreach is calling upon residents of Tregaron to support an initiative that could bring ultrafast and highly reliable Full Fibre broadband to local homes and businesses. This move is in response to concerns that the community might miss out on a unique Full Fibre broadband upgrade opportunity if they do not apply for free UK Government broadband vouchers, which can facilitate faster speeds and enhanced reliability.
To make this scheme successful, 209 vouchers are required, but currently, only 42 have been pledged. Therefore, more people must sign up to ensure that Tregaron in Ceredigion joins the ranks of over 700,000 homes and businesses in Wales already enjoying access to full fibre broadband.
Funding from the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme, coupled with the deployment of new broadband signal boosting technology, has expanded the reach of Full Fibre networks. As a result, many remote rural communities, like Tregaron, are now within reach of ultrafast broadband.
Openreach has identified Tregaron as a viable location for Full Fibre, encouraging local residents to take the next step by applying for and pooling their free UK Government Gigabit Vouchers to help finance the build.
Residents can check their eligibility and pledge their vouchers on the Connect My Community website. These vouchers, which do not cost residents anything, enable Openreach to collaborate with the local community to construct a customized, co-funded network. They can be combined to extend the ultrafast, ultra-reliable network to premises in remote rural areas not covered by private investment.
Martin Williams, Openreach’s partnership director for Wales, expressed the excitement surrounding this opportunity for the people of Tregaron to benefit from ultrafast Full Fibre broadband. He stressed the need for more residents to sign up and pledge their vouchers to make the scheme a reality.
Williams stated, “Everyone who pledges a voucher will be doing their bit to help make Tregaron one of the best-connected places in the UK. We’re investing £15 billion to build full fibre broadband to 25 million homes, and more than six million of those will be in the toughest third of the UK—but we can’t upgrade the whole country alone. This latest support from the UK Government is a vital part of that process.”
Once the pledge target is reached, residents must validate their vouchers with the Government to allow Openreach to initiate building work. As part of the funding conditions, residents are asked to commit to ordering a full fibre service from a provider of their choice for at least 12 months once the new network is available and confirm that they are connected.
