Openreach has announced that eligible homes and businesses around further parts of Carmarthenshire could soon get better broadband with the support of the UK Government’s Gigabit Voucher scheme.

Openreach has identified four more areas in the county that are in scope for full fibre broadband. The first is located near to the Llanpumsaint exchange, and will largely serve properties in the Rhydargaeau area, and the remaining exchanges to cover Llansteffan, Bancyfelin and Pontyates.

Eligible residents have already started to pledge Gigabit Vouchers to bring full fibre broadband to thesecommunities by applying for and pooling together their free UK Government Gigabit Vouchers to help fund the build. For the work to go ahead, Openreach need 75 residents or businesses in Llanpumsaint, 215 in Llansteffan, 142 in Bancyfelin and approximately 356 in Pontyates to sign up.

So far, the response has been incredibly positive with the current number of pledges towards the funding goal standing at:

• Llansteffan 88%

• Pendine 77%

• Llanpumsaint 61%

• Bancyfelin 48%

Pontyates, the latest location included in the upgrade plans has already reached 29% of the pledges needed in the last week alone, indicating that people across Carmarthenshire fully understand the benefits of better broadband and how it can improve everyday life.

Residents can check if they qualify and pledge their voucher on the Connect My Community website.

The decision on the fibre infrastructure build, the scope of premises covered, and the timeline are all subject to technical surveys, as well as the number of vouches pledged by the community.

The validated vouchers do not bear any cost to residents and sufficient take up will enable Openreach to work with a local community to build a customised, co-funded network. vouchers can be combined to extend the ultrafast, ultra-reliable network to premises in outlying rural areas which won’t be covered by private investment.

Martin Williams, Director of Partnerships for Openreach in Wales, said: “Fast reliable broadband is essential for modern day life. Our engineering teams have been super busy, upgrading our broadband network to fibre ultra-fast full fibre to more than 925,000 homes and business across Wales.

“These voucher schemes in Carmarthenshire are a great opportunity to access Government funding that will enable our engineers to transform broadband speeds and build a broadband network that will be fit for future generations.”

Once the pledge target for the scheme is reached, residents need to ensure they then validate their vouchers with the Government so that Openreach can confirm that building work can get underway.

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.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Leisure, Culture and Tourism - Cllr Hazel Evans said: “The continuation of upgrades to areas of the county that struggle with their broadband means that increasing numbers of residents and businesses will now reap the benefits of being better connected.”

“Carmarthenshire County Council is committed to helping every community to access better broadband and will continue to work with infrastructure suppliers to make that happen.”

Full fibre networks provide more reliable, resilient, and future-proof connectivity; meaning fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands. It is also future proof, which means it will serve generations to come and will not need to be upgraded for decades.

If you live in Carmarthenshire and have any questions about the voucher scheme, speak to your local Broadband Engagement Officer: Aled Nicholas – [email protected]