Government must deliver broadband to rural Wales before it turns efforts to improving network speeds, MPs say

The House of Commons' Welsh Affairs Committee said local communities in Wales had lost out because of a lack of broadband infrastructure in some rural areas. The Committee said that the Government should not sacrifice efforts to deliver broadband is available throughout Wales in a bid to provide the fastest broadband networks in Europe across the UK by 2015. That network speed target was set by former Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt in August.

"The first priority must be to ensure that the needs of the approximately 90,000 homes in Wales which currently do not have access to broadband are addressed as soon as possible," the Committee said in a report into broadband services in Wales. "The Government's ambitions for superfast broadband must not be at the expense of delivering a good broadband service for all."

"In rural areas of Wales the existence of broadband notspots and slowspots has hindered the operations of existing businesses and has deterred new businesses from choosing to locate there - to the cost of the local economy. Eradicating remaining broadband notspots and slowspots in Wales must be a priority for the UK and Welsh Governments," it said.

"The Government must ensure that its ambition to roll-out superfast broadband does not undermine efforts to ensure that a basic broadband service is available to premises in Wales that currently have no service at all," the Committee's report said.

The Committee urged the UK's telecoms regulator Ofcom to press ahead with its auction of radio frequency spectrum "without further delay". The spectrum would support new '4G' mobile broadband services. The Committee said that mobile broadband and satellite broadband infrastructure could be used to provide broadband coverage to rural Wales, as an alternative to traditional fixed line networks.

"Broadband services in Wales can only be made available to the most remote parts of Wales through a mix of technologies including mobile," it said. "Mobile broadband is the fastest growing means of accessing the internet in Wales and this trend is likely to continue. The delayed Spectrum auction, now planned for 2013, must ensure that 4G mobile services are available to at least 98% of people in Wales."

"Satellite broadband is a practical alternative to fixed line and mobile broadband. We received very persuasive evidence that for very difficult-to-reach areas it might be the best solution for Wales as it has been for parts of Scotland. We recommend that Ofcom undertake a study to evaluate whether satellite broadband should be supported more vigorously in Wales," the Committee recommended.

The MPs also questioned whether Ofcom has regulated sufficiently to mitigate against BT's control of the "fixed broadband services" market in Wales.

"BT currently exercises significant market power in the provision of fixed broadband services in Wales," the Committee said. "This market power must be regulated effectively because only with effective competition in the provision of broadband will choice be provided to consumers and the market able to operate efficiently to deliver to everyone across the country."

"While we welcome Ofcom's efforts to open up the access to BT's ducts and poles in Wales to other providers, we are concerned that it has not yet gone far enough in ensuring access is available at a reasonable cost. We call on Ofcom to increase its efforts in this area," it said.

However, BT said that it was currently conducting "trials" in relation to the sharing of its infrastructure, according to a report by The Register news website. The company said that there would be "room for manoeuvre on the pricing" structure that it would negotiate with Ofcom for rivals to make use of its ducts and poles.