Launch: March 2004 (4 exchanges were RFS in March 2004)
Gwynedd County Council, Antur Dwyryd Llyn, WDA.
In late 2003 Gwynedd Council, with only 30% broadband coverage, were keen to raise awareness of the benefits of broadband to their communities and to expand coverage. The county is mostly rural with agriculture being a significant employer. The council are already rolling out significant bandwidth to schools through a Wales Assembly Government education initiative. This would, however, not provide community access and so they turned their attention to assisting and co-ordinating local broadband campaigns. In March 2004 they launched a significant broadband awareness campaign across the county but with key areas receiving particular attention. In support of this initiative, which was funded from both the council and several ERDF funded projects, BT enabled four exchanges (Llanwnda, Bethesda, Felinheli and Pwllheli) as part of a public private partnership. Over 8,800 residential homes and over 700 businesses will now be able to access broadband services and the council are keen to pursue a Phase 2 project with broadband coverage likely to top 60% in Summer 2004, a doubling in 8 months! The partnership followed BT's decision to locate one of its radio broadband trials in Pwllheli. The trialists, who have expressed very high levels of satisfaction with the quality of the service, will now be able to receive terrestrial broadband services once the trial has finished.
Cllr. Richard Parry Hughes, Leader of Gwynedd Council, said: "The importance of broadband cannot be overstated and we are determined to do all we can to ensure that this county and the people who live here can reap the benefits.
"It is a technology which can help to break down geographical barriers and bring huge benefits to businesses and consumers alike.
"Through this campaign we are determined to ensure that the people of Gwynedd take full advantage of broadband across all technologies."