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… offer various ways of transmitting broadband:
- Wireless
- Microwave
- Fibre to the village
- Fibre to the home (expensive!)
- Some combination of these
The Penallt Broadband Project has talked to four such providers – all have viable solutions and all cost money!
The most realistic solutions are going to involve substantial one-off 5 or 6 figure sums of money, followed by the usual monthly fees for broadband provision, similar to those most residents pay already, but for a considerably better service.
Funding
There are two main potential sources of funding:
- Welsh Assembly Broadband Support Grant – up to £1000 per household for houses where current broadband speeds are less than 2 Mb/s
- MCC rural broadband grant – Up to £45k to one of four selected Monmouthshire villages (hence the recent village survey by MCC).
Where next?
We are cautiously optimistic that we can find a good solution to the Penallt broadband problem via a third party provider. This means that we will shortly be selecting a provider and then applying for the necessary grants. This is likely to involve interested residents in further dialogue – a necessary process where large grants are involved – but the results should be well worth it in the end.