Will the Cabinet Secretary provide more detail on the work required to the Access Broadband Cymru grant scheme, as referenced in your letter to all Members on 31 July 2024?
The ABC scheme requires immediate work to adjust how it operates, and the pause will allow these adjustments to be undertaken to reflect the evolving broadband market and the ongoing evolution of available technology solutions. In particular, the growing importance of low earth orbit satellite technology in delivering broadband to remote and rural areas.
We will review grant funding ceilings to ensure they continue to reflect the costs of deployment. We will consider the scheme administration to ensure that it continues to offer a targeted, flexible and responsive connectivity safety net to those that need it. This may include enabling applicants to identify the unique premises reference number of their property under a system widely used across the telecommunications industry in order to speed up the assessment process; making it quicker and easier to assess applications against the latest data to assure eligibility and improve processes to assess eligible expenditure.
This work will ensure that the scheme remains fit for purpose, is easily accessible and evolves to reflect new and emerging technologies whilst continuing to provide value for money. While the work needed is significant, we anticipate that the pause will last for a maximum of six months.