The area still has some of the slowest UK internet speeds

Many residents in north Powys have some of the slowest internet speeds in the UK and something needs to be done about it, according to Liberal Democrats in the area.

Many residents already know they have slow speeds, despite communities in a large part of Montgomeryshire having access to fibre broadband.

Jane Dobbs, a Member of the Senedd for Mid and West Wales, said Montgomeryshire had the second highest percentage of households living with very slow internet connections below 10Mbs.

Montgomeryshire also ranks 570/650 for average speeds at 53.4 Mb/s compared to a UK average of 86.5 Mb/s, according to a report.

“It is absolutely disgraceful that Powys is yet again being left behind the rest of the country when it comes to broadband access," she said.

"Good internet access and fast broadband speeds are more vital than ever with the rise of home working and increasing numbers of small start-ups. If we are to attract businesses and new investment to Powys we need better digital connectivity.

“The Conservative Government in Westminster urgently needs to prioritise increasing internet speeds in rural Wales, but sadly they seem to be going in the opposite direction with the Chancellor Rishi Sunak having quietly scrapped the key Conservative manifesto “to give all homes across the UK superfast broadband by 2025” in winter 2020.

“We would also like to see the Labour-Plaid Cymru administration in the Senedd to use the limited powers over broadband they have to use the Superfast Cymru programme to close the rural-urban gap in Wales or else we will only see the digital divide between South Wales and rest of Wales continue to grow.”