BT told to get their act together

BT, formerly known as British Telecom, has been accused by local Assembly Member Russell George of not doing enough for the people of Montgomeryshire.

Mr George (right) is set for a showdown with Welsh BT chief Ann Beynon on Tuesday when he will raise the issue of the company’s failure to upgrade its infrastructure in Powys.

He said that the two-year delay is causing untold problems for both businesses and residents and having a detrimental impact on the local economy.

 “I hope to have some open and frank discussions with BT’s Welsh Director because as I see it, levels of service delivery and service performance in Mid Wales have been well-below par,” said Mr George.

“While BT provides its own range of products, it also installs and maintains the core infrastructure that other telecoms providers rely on to deliver their services to a variety of residential and business customers; if that infrastructure is compromised or fails, a lot of people are affected.

“The problem regarding BT’s upgrading of Welsh exchanges for example, is a very long-standing one. Back in December 2011, BT announced that it was undertaking a programme of work in Powys that would see 25,000 homes and businesses in Montgomeryshire towns receiving superfast broadband by the summer of 2012.

“However since then, there have been continued delays. Initially, I was told that the upgrade would take place by 2012, then it was the summer of 2013 and now I am told that it will be done by June 2014; this just isn’t good enough.

“Mid Wales is heavily reliant on good communications technology because of its geography and rurality, therefore I will be expecting BT to improve how it conducts its business in the future and I will be making that very clear during our discussions."