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Study finds half of Welsh council areas have no super-fast broadband
Some 12 of the 22 council areas in Wales are in the lowest category for broadband access, Ofcom has said.
Ofcom found next-generation internet services have not been extended to 11 of the country's 22 council districts, while 12 areas were rated in the lowest category for broadband provision.
Super-fast fibre optic broadband can be received by less than a third of properties in Wales at present, leaving the nation lagging behind the UK average of 58 per cent.
Total broadband take-up stood at 63 per cent, less than England and Scotland, while almost one in five homes can only access speeds of less than 2Mbps.
Across Wales as a whole, the average modem sync speeds was recorded as 6.5Mbps, significantly lower than the UK-wide figure of 7.5Mbps.
Commenting on the research, South Wales West AM Bethan Jenkins called on the Welsh Assembly Government to consider plans put forward by her party - Plaid Cymru - ahead of this year's general election regarding improved broadband coverage.
"Only the most remote parts of Scotland and northern England do as badly as Wales generally and we live in an age where we cannot survive on near-medieval broadband coverage if we are serious about tackling problems with the economy and issues of social exclusion," she remarked.
"Delivering a 21st century network should be a matter of priority for the Welsh government."
The study was released by Ofcom as part of its work towards publishing the first interactive online map of fixed-line broadband coverage in the UK.
Consumers can use the chart to learn more about the availability of super-fast broadband, average levels of take-up, typical ADSL and cable speeds, and the percentage of homes unable to access a 2Mbps connection.
The south coast city of Brighton and Hove was found to have the highest fixed broadband take-up at 80 per cent.