Llanrhystud and Cross Inn set to have some of the fastest internet speeds in the UK after a community project gained enough support to get the go-ahead.

But there was “sad news” for the residents of Llanon, which faces a delay, and instead will get the upgrade in the next five years.

WeFibre, the company working with community campaigners, has announced that both Llanrhystud and Cross Inn have secured funding for gigabit broadband from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

Announcing the funding, WeFibre said: “Thank you for your incredible patience over the past few months whilst we undertook design and planning work for your project area, followed by the subsequent submission to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for funding approval.

“We’re thrilled to announce that after much dialogue with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, we have received final funding approval and sign off for Llanrhystud.

“We do however have some sad news for the residents of Llanon. I am sure most of you would have seen the update from Openreach, this was to say that Llanon is now going to be upgraded by them.

“This decision was taken out of our hands, due to the contract the Welsh Government has with Openreach. It will come as no surprise that these upgrades will be in the next five years for Llanon. If we had a choice then Llanon would be getting the green light as is Llanrhystud.

“We wish we could say immediate connection, but alas what happens now is the actual hard work involved in connecting you with awesome gigabit full fibre.

“Funding confirmed means we’re now able to ramp up our local mobilisation and so you will begin to see more lovely folk from our sister companies, full fibre network builder Telcom Infrastructure and civil engineering company Pioneer Utilities, over the coming weeks.”

Ben Lake MP and Elen Jones MS met with community campaigner Charles Green and WeFibre last month to discuss broadband issues at Caffi Wyre, Llanrhystud.

These discussions revolved around Llanon and the news that Llanon would be excluded from the project as Openreach plans to upgrade the Llanon exchange by 2026.

WeFibre are running similar projects in communities across Mid Wales, with the Llanrhystud scheme having to secure 100 signatures to ensure there was enough interest to proceed.

The project is made possible through a grant funding scheme from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Households and businesses have a Rural Gigabit Voucher of up to £3,500 which goes toward installing infrastructure and gets the project off the ground,

The Gigabit (1,000 Mbps) connection is paid for by the DCMS along with Welsh Government match funding. Businesses and residents that sign up will have FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) installed free of charge, future proofing your property for decades to come.Residents can still still sign up to the scheme by visiting www.llanrhystud.co.uk/llanrhystud-broadband-dcms-project-funding-secured/