By Debbie James

Pressure is being applied to digital network providers and governments to fix Wales’ urban-rural digital divide after the pandemic exposed a widening gap between broadband and mobile phone haves and have-nots.

Wales YFC chair Katie Davies said a recent survey revealed a “gaping hole’’ in connectivity in rural Wales.

Chairing a recent webinar, she said the lives of 66 per cent of survey respondents had been impacted by poor broadband.

Some were forced to travel to supermarkets to get a connection while others struggled to complete important online forms.

The survey was conducted on behalf of NFU Cymru, the National Federation of Women's Institutes-Wales, CLA, Farmers’ Union of Wales and Wales YFC.

“There is a gaping hole between rural and urban areas when it comes to access and stability of mobile phone and broadband access,’’ said Ms Davies.

The digital divide had not been addressed despite years of promises, she added.

Wales’ topography and population distribution makes it more costly for providers to deliver a return on investment for shareholders than in other regions.

The country has some very hard to reach areas where it is complex and costly to build digital networks.

Companies had now reached points where they considered that going any further was not in the best interest of their shareholders, said Elinor Williams, of Ofcom Wales.

Although natural gas and digital terrestrial television had reached a point where investment stopped when it became too costly to reach all areas, that approach was not acceptable with digital connectivity because of the vital role it plays, Ms Williams added.

The only way that access can be achieved in hard to reach areas is through public intervention, she said.

As taxpayers' money is enabling these networks to be created Ms Williams pointed out: “Elected representatives are best placed to decide how much money should be spent on reach the last remaining hard to reach areas.’’

One of the barriers to rollout is wayleave permissions and this is holding up schemes in some regions.

Some lines crossed several parcels of land and it takes time to establish ownership and seek permissions, said Kim Mears, of Openreach.

She urged greater support for facilitating this process.