Welsh broadband is to receive a huge boost to the tune of £57m from thew UK government according to Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary.

Providing the Welsh government match that of the UK government then 90% of homes and businesses in Wales will have access to superfast broadband.

The £57m also includes the previous £10m that was pledged in February by Chancellor George Osborne and will come out of the £530m broadband pot that has been set aside to roll out universal broadband of at least 2Mb across the UK and also to provide superfast broadband, with the UK government aiming to have full coverage of a minimum of 2Mb broadband across the country by 2015.

he funding announcement came only a day after Ofcom said that at least 12 out of the 22 council areas in Wales were classed as areas with a “poor start of broadband provision”.

Rachel Evans, the regional director of the Countryside Alliance in Wales, said:

“This announcement comes not before time. Rural communities are increasingly being forced to depend on the internet for the survival of their businesses.
A reliable broadband network is a necessity if these communities are going to weather the recent financial troubles.“