Cardiff is to receive a share of UK Government funding that will allow the Welsh capital to become a super-connected city.
In today’s budget announcement it was confirmed that Cardiff will receive between £7m to £12m to go towards making Cardiff super-connected with high speed broadband access. The final figure will be revealed in June.
Cardiff is one of 14 cities across the UK that will have the chance to become super-connected, sharing around £100m of funding. Super-connected status will help the city to drive growth, attract new businesses to the area and transform the way services are provided and accessed.
Under the proposals the city will have 100 per cent availability of 1Gb ultrafast broadband connections for business, and 80-100Mbps superfast broadband for homes
There will also be “free” wireless provision with an always-available Cardiff specific information portal – with links to tourism, local services, where to stay, where to get help etc. This would give free access to the entire internet for 30 minutes per day per device
Cardiff Council is also looking to invest £4m from separate funding to provide wireless access in all city schools.
Cardiff Council Leader, Cllr Rodney Berman, welcomed the budget announcement. He said: “This news is going to help keep Cardiff competitive and make the city a place where businesses look to come.
“With plans already underway for Cardiff’s Central Business District (CBD) as well as the city centre being named as an enterprise zone, it is essential that Cardiff has access to the highest speed broadband to enable us to attract businesses here, boosting investment and bringing more jobs to the city.
“These are exciting times for Cardiff and the CBD is set to bring millions of pounds worth of investment into the city region. High speed broadband is an essential prerequisite for modern businesses, so companies looking to invest in Cardiff need to know that we have the ability to offer world class digital connections which this super connectivity will create.”
