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Broadband: Virgin to offer hyper-fast speeds in parts of Wales

BBC A stock image of fibre optic lightsBBC
Virgin Media's gigabit service will be available to people in parts of Cardiff and some parts of south-east Wales

Hundreds of thousands of people will have access to hyper-fast broadband after Virgin Media said it would bring its gigabit service to Wales.

The service will be available to people in parts of Cardiff and some nearby counties in south-east Wales.

The telecoms firm said customers would be able to receive speeds 18 times faster than average in Cardiff.

A plan to get gigabit broadband in every home by 2025 was rolled back by the UK government last week.

Parts of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Vale of Glamorgan, Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot will also be able to get faster speeds.

The new broadband would allow users to download 4K films or very large files almost instantaneously.

However, the village of Pennant, near Llanbrynmair, Powys, had the slowest broadband in Wales, according to technology comparison website Uswitch.

Average download speeds there were 0.86Mbps, and it would take about 17 hours to download a two-hour film there, Uswitch said.

Jeff Dodds, from Virgin Media, said: "At a time when our services play a vital role in supporting people's lives and powering the economy, Virgin Media is continuing to invest and as a result our gigabit footprint is growing like gangbusters."