£10 million to extend superfast broadband across North Wales

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, has announced that £10 million of funding will be allocated to support the early phases of superfast broadband in Wales.

The funding will help to deliver the roll out of Next Generation Broadband in Pwllheli and surrounding areas of North Wales as part of the Welsh Assembly Govt's national delivery plan for all of Wales.

The announcement was made while the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Wales visited a JCB factory in Wrexham. While there JCB also announced that it was signing a new contract for 350 vehicles with a UK business and that it was creating and recruiting for over 80 new engineering positions within JCB nationally.

Visiting Wrexham the Chancellor said: "Having seen the potential growth opportunities in Wrexham today I am pleased to announce £10 million additional funding for Wales that will support the extension of superfast broadband to Pwllheli and the surrounding areas. This funding will support the Welsh economy and help drive the private sector-led recovery by driving innovation and commercial opportunities in communities across Wales.

"This is just the first wave of funding for Wales from the over half a billion pounds we have already set aside to extend superfast broadband across the UK".

Secretary of State for Wales, Cheryl Gillan said: "Today's announcement shows this Government's commitment that Wales is at the heart of our plans to ensure that UK has the best superfast network in Europe by 2015. For this to work we need to test innovative approaches that bring broadband to hard-to-reach areas and today's announcement of funding to extend superfast broadband to Pwllheli and the surrounding areas of North Wales will do just that. We are committed to working closely with the Welsh Assembly Government to delivering this project in north west Wales."