A MEIRIONNYDD village has been left “high and dry” as promises to install superfast broadband continually fail to materialise.

Villagers in Rhydymain have been promised superfast broadband on at least 12 separate occasions but have now been told that work to roll-out the service has been put on hold after BT Openreach failed to complete the work within their contract agreement with Welsh Government.

Distraught residents have been plagued by lapsed deadlines and guarantees which are never met. There are now concerns amongst the community that work will be delayed indefinitely with cables left dangling from telegraph poles.

Following a meeting with local people in Rhydymain, Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts is calling on the Welsh Government to ‘get their act together’ and appoint a provider who will be able to deliver the roll out without further delay.

Ms Saville Roberts said: “Having been repeatedly assured that work to bring superfast broadband to Rhydymain was on track, local people are justifiably frustrated with the catalogue of broken promises that has brought the work to a standstill.

”This is a sorry state of affairs which serves to highlight that people living in rural areas find the glacial pace at which superfast broadband is being rolled-out is aggravated by lapsed deadlines, broken promises and communication blackouts.

‘Ultimately, it’s the public purse that’s paying BT Openreach to upgrade our national infrastructure, but in rural communities like mine, many continue to have a woeful or non-existent broadband service."

Local businessman Mike Kirwin said he was feeling the effects of no superfast broadband.

“After five years of broken promises regarding the roll out of superfast broadband, it’s incredibly frustrating to witness Openreach walking away from their half-finished job,” he said.

An Openreach spokesperson said: “Since the start of the Superfast Cymru we have always been clear that the programme would not reach every premises, and some areas that were in the original plan have unfortunately dropped out because of the time and the complexity involved in reaching them."

Read the full story in this week’s north editions of the Cambrian News