A £30m investment in a 'FibreSpeed' project will provide a regional fibre-optic ‘trunk’ network in north Wales that will also link 14 strategic business parks throughout the region with high-speed broadband services.
Part of the financing for the Assembly Government project will come from European Structural Funds managed by the Assembly Government’s Wales European Funding Office and from Geo, the supplier chosen to build and operate the network.
Geo currently delivers networks for three of the UK’s mobile phone operators and carries approximately 35 per cent of Britain’s broadband internet traffic.
The business parks to be linked up by the new network include Parc Cybi on Anglesey, Parc Menai (including CAST Technium), Parc Bryn Cegin and Victoria Dock, Caernarfon, in Gwynedd, Llandudno Junction and Parc Caer Seion in Conwy, St.Asaph Business Park (including OPTIC Technium) in Denbighshire, St. David’s Park, Deeside Industrial Park, Hawarden Business Park and Warren Hall in Flintshire, Wrexham Industrial Estate and Wrexham Technology Park.
The presence of the network is anticipated to drive further private investment from other telecommunications operators and service providers as they seek to extend their own network footprints in Wales, where previously it had been uneconomic to do so.
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