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Poor internet connectivity is threatening to force companies out of Carmarthen, a local business owner has warned.

Internet connections that are “simply not good enough” have caused frustration for some time at Cillefwr Industrial Estate in Johnstown, which is home to dozens of businesses.

The site has been the subject of a survey in recent weeks to ascertain what internet speeds are available at business premises in the estate and off the adjoining Alltycnap Road.

Roger Jones, who owns Carmarthen Lighting Centre, says the issue has affected the day-today running of his company for years.

“In rural areas you might expect internet speeds to be poor, but not in an industrial park where businesses rely on it to make their business function,” he said.

“It seems to be a nationwide problem. It’s just random and down to pot luck as to whether you get good internet or not.”

Mr Jones owns two business units at the Carmarthen estate, as well as one in Cross Hands and one in Llanelli. He says the state of things in Carmarthen has even led him to consider taking his whole business out of the town.

“With Cross Hands expanding from a business point of view, I was tempted to pack up and go there or to Llanelli completely,” he added.

“We need to encourage people to stay here, long-term. My sons are all from Carmarthen and they’re all university educated, but they’ve all moved away to work.

“How can it be that, in Cross Hands and Llanelli, the internet connection is perfect, yet here in Carmarthen, it’s just not good enough?”

Julian Wilson, manager of W Kingsbury Ltd in Johnstown, said BT conducted a survey earlier this year and it was agreed that faster broadband would be introduced.

After waiting five weeks, he was then told that the agreed service would be not installed after all.

“The broadband doesn’t work a lot of the time, so it’s very difficult for businesses to function,” said Mr Wilson.

“BT are extremely difficult to deal with - they give the same excuses over and over again.

“I live in Kidwelly, and I can get speeds of up to 70Mbs, but in work I’m lucky if I get seven. Reloading our website can take four hours here; at home it can be done in 15 minutes.

“Before Christmas, which is a very busy time for us, the internet connection would drop out about 20 times a day. It’s just not good enough if you’re trying to run a successful business.”

After long periods of frustration, Mr Wilson revealed that BT has now offered him a deal that should provide him with internet speeds of 20Mbs, but at a cost.

“I’ve managed to reduce the monthly fee it’s going to cost us, after all the problems we’ve had, but we’ve had to sign up for five years, which is a long time.

“Overall, it’s going to cost us thousands of pounds.”

Despite the hope that running the business will now be made easier in light of the new agreement with BT, Mr Wilson thinks the issue represents a wider concern for businesses in west Wales as a whole.

“I used to live in Caldicot in east Wales and we had speeds of 70Mbs about five years ago. There shouldn’t be that much of a difference, but while there is, businesses down here are always going to struggle.”

BT has stressed that they are working to improve the infrastructure in the Johnstown area, and claim that over 70 per cent of businesses and homes across Carmarthenshire as a whole can already get access to superfast broadband.

A spokesperson for BT said: “Large parts of the Cillefwr Industrial Estate can already gain access to some of the fastest fibre broadband speeds in the UK thanks to Superfast Cymru.

“We appreciate the frustration of those businesses that currently cannot access superfast broadband but would like to confirm that our engineers are working hard to bring fibre to more of the estate as quickly as possible.

“Across Carmarthenshire, more than 7 out of 10 homes and businesses can place an order for superfast broadband today.

"For those that can already do so we would urge people to take advantage of the new technology that is being made available and revolutionising the way we work, live and play.”