Rural broadband specialist ups investment in Wales to connect hard-to-reach communities

A Wales-based rural broadband specialist has bolstered its team across several departments as it ramps up efforts to bring gigabit-capable broadband to hard-to-reach communities of the nation.

Voneus, which has also relocated to bigger premises in Carmarthen, has recruited a community engagement team, with other roles, including in its sales and engineering teams, yet to be filled.

The privately owned and well funded broadband provider, which delivers superfast and ultrafast broadband to hard-to-reach areas across 22 UK counties, acquired Cardigan-based Dyfed IT earlier this year, with all employees retained.

Three people have so far been brought into the community engagement team, which will be headed up by Naomi Marshall, a fluent Welsh speaker who has been in the industry for 15 years. Susan Pitcher and Adam Stockwell have also joined as community engagement executives.

All have lived and worked in the region for at least the last 20 years, bringing local knowledge and understanding of the broadband requirements in the counties.

Voneus is delivering network builds across Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Powys, which will provide speeds from 100Mbps to 1Gbps.

Zoe Day, head of community engagement at Voneus, said: “The role of the community engagement team is absolutely critical to us.

“We know how important it is to embed ourselves in the communities we serve: we don’t want to be a faceless business that only builds and forgets about people.

“Our community engagement team will work closely with local residents and businesses to understand their wants and needs as well as build relationships with key organisations including town councils and parish churches.”

The new premises are located at The MacGregor Office Suite on Jolly Tar Lane in the centre of Carmarthen and are large enough to allow for further growth and expansion at Voneus.

Naomi Marshall, who previously worked for BT and EE, said: “At Voneus, we have a desire to rid rural areas of poor broadband speeds while providing wider benefits to the community.

“Being able to do just that for the community where I live, and work is fantastic.”

Voneus is on a mission to connect hard-to-reach communities, which often feel like they have been left behind, to the same broadband speeds experienced in the middle of a big city.

Naomi added: “People in these areas often can’t action simple tasks online such as upload files as part of working from home or watch the latest show via a streaming service due to slow speeds.

“We will change that, and we will be looking for more community engagement officers, as well as three more sales team members, a raft of engineers and admin support to follow, to help us achieve this.

“Anyone interested should apply straight away!”