I today welcomed the UK Government’s £157m investment that will see remote areas of the Highlands and Islands offered gigabit-capable broadband. These areas have some of the UK’s slowest broadband speeds and this is tangible evidence the UK Labour Government is not only listening to the people in the Highlands and Islands but acting and delivering. Highlanders and those who live in the Hebrides have been asking the SNP Government for years to improve the digital infrastructure but the SNP’s R100 project is very behind schedule so to see our UK Labour Telecoms Minister grasp the thistle and sort this out is very encouraging.
The contract is the largest so far under Project Gigabit and for households and businesses in Skye, Islay, Tiree, Applecross, Durness and Stornoway to get the opportunity to benefit from highspeed broadband will make a huge difference and I thank Chris Bryant, Labour’s Telecoms Minister and his team for making it happen. For too long these communities have had to provide their own connectivity and that is simply unfair.