People visiting Mwnt are now able to surf both the waves and web after Openreach connected the area to full fibre broadband.
Virtual team meetings have even been held from Mwnt beach using the new infrastructure.
Th the popular Caban Mwnt café at the top of Mwnt beach with ultrafast broadband, which means ‘working from the beach’ could become a new norm as the summer holidays get into full swing.
Openreach says it is almost a third of the way towards meeting its commitment to reach 25 million homes and businesses by December 2026.
The brand-new Full Fibre infrastructure in Mwnt enables LoRaWAN technology to be used that provides real time data on visitors, weather and alerts when the nearby defibrillator has been tampered with. This allows Ferwig Community Council to make data driven decisions, ensuring adequate resources are provided at this unique location.
To connect the café Openreach engineers had to run fibre from the exchange around five kilometres away in Cardigan across fields and down narrow lanes. Working with Ceredigion County Council the company was able to agree early starts for their work in order to minimise disruption to visitors of the popular beauty spot. Meanwhile good relationships with local landowners and the National Trust, who manage the land around Mwnt, meant that engineers were able to complete the work in good time for start of the busy tourist season.
Rachel Welch, owner of Caban Mwnt said: “Full fibre is essential for running Caban Mwnt, it helps us promote our business through social media channels, including sharing pictures of dolphins often seen here. Fibre enables our analytics systems which helps us determine we aren’t missing a trick when it comes to our opening times and general offer throughout the year, it also helps us keep secure with our new alarm system”
Cllr Clive Davies said: “Bringing Full Fibre to this rural part of Ceredigion is greatly beneficial to us. It not only allows us to digitally monitor the Defibrillator that we have at Mwnt beach but also allows visitors to pay for their parking using their mobiles and make phone calls using the Wifi that we now have across the beach – weather that be for emergencies or to simply call a taxi.”
“To stress test the new connectivity we have even managed to hold a virtual meeting where a number of people attended the meeting via their laptops from Mwnt beach. Who knows - this could be the future?!”
In addition to the café, Openreach were also able to connect a nearby camp side and wedding venue.
Ben Lake MP for Ceredigion said: “Mwnt is one of Ceredigion’s most beautiful and remote beaches and having Full Fibre coverage is a positive development for both the local businesses and for the safety of locals and visitors alike.
“A huge thank you to everyone involved, particularly Openreach, Ferwig Community Council and Cllr Clive Davies, for pursuing this important development.”
Connie Dixon, Partnership Director for Openreach in Wales, added: ”I’m sure quite a few visitors to Mwnt beach have been caught out after making their way to the top of the steps and not having change to buy an ice-cream in the café.”
“Our new Full Fibre infrastructure will change all of that as you will now be able to use contactless but fibre broadband will enable so much more than that for other businesses in the area and beachgoers.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work our team has done to bring ultrafast Full Fibre to not only the café but also a number of businesses in the area.
“Not matter where you are in the world people now need and expect good connectivity. This infrastructure will provide a vital boost to the tourist economy as we go into summer.”