Boost to Wales’s full fibre broadband boom

Wales’s leading altnet – Ogi – has today announced the next communities set to join the provider’s full fibre network.

Work has started to connect tens of thousands of people in twenty-three new communities, as Ogi’s £200million phase one plan extends to thriving commuter communities and business hubs across south Wales.

The latest towns and villages to benefit from Ogi’s rollout include Blackwood, Langstone, Maesteg, Pontypool, Trehafod, and Underwood. Once work is complete, homes and businesses in these areas will have access to the altnet’s ultrafast network – with most able to access fibre to the door for the very first time.

This is an economic impact worth around £5million to each local area, with research suggesting the long-term benefit could be as high as five times that, as local homes and businesses adopt the new technology.

Together with its next generation ultrafast fibre network for homes, Ogi’s rollout will make access to world-class IT support ever easier for local businesses too – giving workplaces of all kinds the competitive edge to thrive.

Ogi propelled onto the scene with an ambitious multimillion-pound plan back in 2021 and since then has grown ten-fold; employing more than 170 staff and supporting hundreds of local jobs through its supply chain and four principal contractors by the end of 2022.

Customers signing up to the provider’s cost-of-living busting six months free deal are recording record-breaking customer service scores, with satisfaction well above the industry standard, averaging at over 90% (CSAT) at the end of 2022.

Announcing the latest communities, Ogi’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Allwright, said: “As we see demand for reliable ultrafast speeds increase, our work becomes even more important. Our homes continue to get smarter, and with the cost-of-living crisis affecting everything we do, we’re seeing more and more people looking to improve the quality of their connectivity for work and entertainment at home.

“Our full fibre network is helping business to adapt and really embrace agile ways of working; while at home, families can experience the best possible entertainment choices, without the battle for bandwidth we’re all too familiar with on the existing, ageing part-fibre, copper networks.”

Avid gamer, and Ogi customer, Jake, added: “It’s completely transformed the way we game. In the little time we have together at home, we want to spend it gaming with our friends or watching films, not waiting for updates to install.

“It might sound obvious, but having a faster connection means we can focus on what’s important – like our new family, our online friends. We’ve always accepted slow speeds – but now, thanks to Ogi, reliable, and fast broadband is a real option, even when you live outside of the big towns and cities.”