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Residents covered by the Rhydlewis Exchange in Ceredigion (Wales), which serves 1,058 premises across 127 postcodes, may be pleased to learn that their stop-start deployment of a new Openreach based Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband ISP network can now finally complete after they worked together to raise £1.4m in pledges.
The exchange previously had some of the lowest fibre (FTTP) coverage in the county, with just 30% of local homes and businesses able to access such a network, but that is now set to change. Work to roll-out the new network did in fact start once before, after the community succeeded in securing pledges for 217 vouchers under the government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS) by the summer of 2024.
“Unfortunately by the summer of 2025, it was obvious the network build had dramatically slowed down and in June 2025 Openreach informed the community it had experienced unexpected challenges and costs and needed to raise the target to 325 voucher pledges to ensure the complete network build,” said local resident Sandy to ISPreview.
Thankfully, the same small community action group that had been so effective at raising the initial batch of funding was able to spring into action again and raise pledges for a total of 325 vouchers (£1.4m). The catchment area was also increased to include over 800+ premises (up from 700+ originally). All of this was enough for Openreach to continue the build.
A Spokesperson for Ceredigion County Council said:
“This latest milestone shows what’s possible when rural communities come together to secure investment in their digital future – and offers encouragement to others still working towards their own targets in Velindre, Maesycrugiau, and Llandysul.”
At present some 154 premises are already Ready for Service (RFS) with the new full fibre network and work can now continue across the catchment. The bulk of this roll-out is due to complete by the end of 2025, although a few properties won’t be covered until the Spring of 2026 due to delays caused by road closure procedures.
“We are very grateful for the support of our local MP, Ben Lake, Senydd Member, Elin Jones, and the local council, Ceredigion County Council. So, come the Spring of 2026 our rural community should be celebrating the success of FTTP!,” said Sandy. We should point out that the community has been designated a Voucher Priority Area (VPA) by the government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency.