On the 31 March 2007 the Broadband Wales Programme came to an end some 5 years after it was launched by the then Economic Development Minister, Andrew Davies, AM. With the closure of the Broadband Wales Programme comes the closure of the Broadband Wales Observatory.

 

The Broadband Wales Observatory was created because a need was identified for an independent body to monitor and provide evidence based data on progress or otherwise towards achieving the Broadband Wales Programme targets.
 
In September 2003 the Broadband Wales Unit tendered for an 'Observatory' (via OJEU). The OJEU process resulted in the contract being awarded to the Cardiff University eCommerce Innovation Centre (eCIC). The contract commenced on 19th April 2004 and it ran through to the 31 March 2007. 

 

The "Notspot" registration element of the site has been maintained in a live condition so that the people of Wales can continue to register their broadband needs. However, the rest of the site has now been archived with the data still fully accessible.

During this time the Observatory gathered together very credible data on the telecommunications world both at home and abroad. This website was the portal developed to exploit these datasets. In maintaining access to this website the programme acknowledges the important work carried out by the Observatory over the three years of its existence.