More than 700,000 homes and businesses across Wales can already order fast, reliable broadband, thanks to a £210 million investment by Openreach, and more areas in Gwynedd are set to benefit as engineers work to extend the full fibre network further.

The work will see homes and businesses in areas such as Porthmadog and Criccieth benefit from the work.

This milestone, that has seen more than 200,000 Welsh properties gaining access to ultrafast broadband over 12 months, demonstrates Openreach’s commitment to narrowing the digital divide and ensuring communities throughout Wales have access to cutting-edge internet infrastructure.

Welcoming the investment, economy minister, Vaughan Gething, said: “I’d like to congratulate Openreach on reaching the impressive milestone of connecting 700,000 homes and businesses across the country to fast and reliable broadband.

“The Welsh Government, through our Digital Strategy for Wales, is determined to work with the telecommunications industry to support the public sector, businesses and homes in Wales receive the connectivity they need to engage in digital activities.

“Broadband is a key utility and we’ll continue to support all efforts to boost connections the length and breadth of Wales.”.

Martin Williams, partnership director for Openreach in Wales, said: “Connecting 700,000 properties in Wales with access to full fibre broadband is an incredible achievement that showcases Openreach’s unwavering commitment to building a digitally inclusive nation. Over the last 12 months we’ve been expanding our network to just under 4,000 properties every week. That’s the equivalent of connecting a town the size of Haverfordwest or St Asaph every single week.

“Our engineers are out in all kinds of weather across every part of Wales - both urban and rural – to build a network that is not only essential to the future prosperity of our country enabling businesses to compete globally and individuals to fully harness the benefits of digital services.

“It’s worth remembering that upgrades aren’t automatic. People need to place an order with their providers to get connected and we’ll do the rest. Our network offers the widest choice of providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen - which means people have lots of choice and can get a great deal.

“Even if you already have a decent enough service, it’s worth checking if you can upgrade, because full fibre is the future.”