Wales gets £100m broadband boost

NEWS Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in Wales are to get cheap broadband net access under a £100m scheme launched yesterday by the Welsh Assembly. The money, which will come from taxpayers' pockets, will be used to provide affordable broadband to 310,000 homes and 67,000 businesses within five years. A key part of the 'Broadband Wales' scheme will see 30 business support centres linked up, which will then act as 'drop-in' centres where companies can see what benefits broadband use can bring. The Welsh Development Agency (WDA) will also subsidise the cost of satellite links to small businesses where ADSL or cable is unavailable. According to a recent survey by Strathclyde University, only two per cent of Welsh businesses have high-speed net access. The figure in London is 11 per cent. Economic development Minister Andrew Davies said: "This is the biggest public sector investment of it kind in the UK. It will push Wales ahead of the rest of the UK in public broadband access." WDA chief executive Graham Hawker added: "The availability of affordable higher bandwidth services will be a huge boost for Welsh business." The Welsh Assembly has already committed £23m to broadband, and the WDA, £20m.