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The Swansea Bay City Deal’s Digital Infrastructure Programme has today announced the completion of their £1.9m Full Fibre Infrastructure Build project with BT, which has helped to upgrade 69 key public sector sites with “future proofed” broadband connectivity.
Just to recap. The UK and Welsh Governments gave approval for a £55m digital infrastructure investment under the £1.3bn Swansea Bay City Region project back in 2021 (here), which among other things aimed to expand full fibre and 5G mobile connectivity to benefit homes and businesses across Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea. Some of this investment also comes from the Local Broadband Fund (LBF) for Wales.
Several digital infrastructure projects are already taking place under this programme, including the £1.9m contract with BT that was delivered via the Public Sector Broadband Aggregation (PSBA) scheme. This aimed to provide improved broadband provision to public sector sites across the region via a secure Wide Area Network (WAN).
The good news is that this deployment has now completed and connected a total of 69 public sectors sites, everything from leisure centres to country parks, libraries and council buildings etc. One example of this in action is at Pembrey Country Park, where the new full fibre network has enabled the park to begin retiring its legacy radio-based systems and migrate to a more reliable, digital platform, while also saving money.
Cllr Rob Stewart, Leader of Swansea Council, said:
“This is about much more than fast broadband, it’s about unlocking the full potential of our public assets, futureproofing our region, and ensuring our communities are not left behind in the digital age.
Through this investment, we’re enabling our local authorities and health partners to innovate, deliver smarter services, and ultimately improve the lives of residents.This project is a major step towards the Digital Infrastructure Programme’s vision of a smart, inclusive digital region that can meet the connectivity demands of today and tomorrow.”
The original announcement also indicated that approximately 425 residential and business premises may benefit from improved broadband as a result of this deployment, although there was no mention of those in today’s announcement. The project is also expected to stimulate further commercial investment, which could potentially help to accelerate the rollout of full fibre broadband networks across the region.