ADAM Price and Jonathan Edwards have given a cautious welcome to additional funding which has been announced for improving broadband in rural Wales.

The Assembly Member and Member of Parliament represent the Carmarthen East and Dinefwr constituency which has among the worst internet speeds in the UK.

As a result, the Plaid Cymru duo launched a 'Connecting Carmarthenshire' campaign to lobby Welsh and UK Governments for greater connectivity investment – both mobile phone signal and broadband - in west Wales.

The Wales Office has now announced it was providing an additional £56m for broadband roll-out in Wales, acknowledging that Welsh communities were not being upgraded as quickly as those in England.

Mr Price and Mr Edwards said they were very pleased the British Government had acknowledged the urgent need for additional investment but cautiously welcomed the funding, citing a series of connection delays and a history of broken promises.

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Assembly Member Mr Price said: "My post-box during the summer months was dominated by residents fed up with their extremely poor connectivity.

"While my constituents desperately want their broadband upgraded, what they really want is to see providers give them a date for improvements and to honour that date. Far too many communities have been promised upgrades only to see those dates delayed and delayed again.

"While we welcome the additional funding for rural communities, we have seen promises broken in the past and have yet to be given any commitment as to where and when this new money will be directed.

"We will be seeking additional information from the Government on this additional funding but our Connecting Carmarthenshire campaign will continue until each and every one of our constituents has access to the connectivity that other modern economies and countries take for granted."

MP Jonathan Edwards is a member of the Infrastructure Group in Parliament which published the series of 'BroadBad' reports in recent years.

He said: "Carmarthen East and Dinefwr continues to have the slowest average download speeds in the entire UK. This is a damning report card for both Welsh and UK Governments which have prioritised easy to reach areas first – areas which already had very good broadband - to the detriment to rural Wales.

"The additional funding is an acknowledgement of the years of delays and broken promises to Carmarthenshire.

"Over the coming days and weeks I will be looking to secure a cast-iron guarantee from the Wales Office that Carmarthenshire communities will be prioritised with this new funding. Until I get those assurances I give the announcement a cautious welcome."