A year into its ambitious ultrafast rollout plan and Ogi, Wales’s home-grown broadband company, continues to develop at pace.
The company has propelled onto the UK broadband scene, investing millions in communities across south Wales in the last 12 months. It’s directly creating up to 165 highly skilled jobs within the company at the moment, and supporting hundreds more through its supply chain, as it ramps up access to full fibre broadband in traditionally underserved towns and villages across the region.
One of the UK’s top ten new full fibre investors, Ogi is on track to delivering its first phase 150,000 premises plan, and intends to accelerate its roll out further, before the old copper networks are switched off. Full-fibre broadband coverage in Wales increased from 19% to 27% of premises from 2020-2021, the highest year-on-year increase to that point – with Ofcom’s 2021 Connected Nations report citing Ogi as a contributor to this gear-change. Full fibre coverage in Wales is now 32%, roughly the same as the level across the rest of Britain.
To date, the company has already connected Haverfordwest, Rhoose, Llantwit Major, St Athan and Abergavenny, with its roll-out now getting underway in Johnston, Milford Haven, Dinas Powys and Monmouth: eight other towns and villages are in the company’s sights before the end of the year.
Each community benefits from a capital injection of around £6m, with the long-term economic impact from the company’s total first phase investment of £200m across south Wales estimated to be worth up to £1bn to the Welsh economy. The network is more efficient than traditional copper connections, and by enabling more people to work from home, will bring wider carbon emissions savings too.
Named one of Wales’s ‘22 firms to watch in 2022’, Ogi continues to grow, opening four new offices this month to mark its first-year milestone, including premises in St Clears and Tongwynlais; a state-of-the-art network laboratory in Newport; and a flagship headquarters, ‘Tŷ Ogi’, in Cardiff’s historic Hodge House.
“Right from the start, our ambition has been to become a leading Welsh telecoms company, and the last 12 months have certainly laid the foundations for that goal.
“We’re continuously driven to bring next generation broadband to underserved areas across Wales.” said Ogi’s Chief Executive Officer, Ben Allwright. “Ogi’s roll-out is bringing much needed connectivity to towns and villages from Pembrokeshire to Monmouthshire much faster than they’d otherwise be served, ensuring everybody has access to the same opportunities for a more prosperous and greener future.
“Our team live and work in our rollout communities and are passionate about the possibilities that Gigabit-connectivity is bringing.”
The brand’s local customer service offer is already securing a sector high 90% customer satisfaction rate, with the company partnering with leading Welsh and local organisations such as Haverfordwest AFC, Cardiff Rugby and Urdd Gobaith Cymru, further embedding itself in the communities that are benefiting from its full fibre roll-out.
In just 12 months, Ogi has enabled thousands of new full fibre connections across south Wales, bringing reliable connectivity and real market competition to homes and businesses in some of Wales’s most iconic towns and villages.
