A QUARTER of a million pound Welsh Assembly contract to discover how to solve the "broadband not spot" problem is a waste of money, says Paul Davies AM.
The £254,000 contract has been awarded to London-based accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (correct) as part of a campaign to enable the whole of Wales to get broadband.
However local experts say that the money would be better spent on installing direct solutions to the problem rather than yet more advice on solving the problem.
Alan England, MD of Neyland-based Telecomms Facilities Ltd (TFL), has broadband-enabled hundreds of households in Pembrokeshire using wireless technology.
"Rather than waste quarter of a million pounds on learning something we already know, I could solve the problems of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion with this money," he said.
Mr England's company can provide wireless broadband solutions for as little as £299 per household, depending on location.
Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies, who is pressing for more government money to solve "not spots" problem in the county, has branded the contract a waste of taxpayers' money.
"Once again it seems the Labour-Plaid Assembly Government is spending money on words and not deeds.
"We already know the problems that exist and, to a large extent, how to solve them. It is time now for money to be spent on solving this situation rather than talking around it."
