Extending High Speed Broadband Reach in Wales

Description

This early market engagement notice is to share the Welsh Government’s intentions and evoke discussion in relation to extending the reach of high speed broadband in Wales. Lot 1: Following a recent review by the Welsh Government, it has been identified that around 84,000 premises within Wales do not have access to superfast download speeds (at least 30Mbps) exacerbating the digital divide. Ofcom has previously stated that a subset of these, around 10,000 premises do not yet have access to at least 10Mbps. While there are existing interventions scheduled by the telecommunications industry and UK Government public funded interventions, these remote and hard-to-reach areas are not likely to be addressed commercially and it is not certain that they will be addressed by further publicly funded interventions. Additional information: Please note that although ‘No Lots’ has been selected, the Welsh Government may nevertheless divide the Project requirements into either separate procurement exercises and/or Lots. The exact structure and scope of the procurement strategy to be adopted has not yet been determined.