I have received an update from Openreach with more information on upgrading broadband across the region.
Earlier this month, the UK Labour Government announced that it is investing £157 million to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to rural and digitally excluded communities across Scotland. It is wonderful to see the difference a Government committed to improving the lives of everyone across all of the UK is making.
The upgrades, delivered by Openreach, will enable people in communities across the Highlands, Outer Hebrides, and hard-to-reach areas across most of Scotland to access new digital opportunities to work, learn, socialise and do business online.
Once complete, the upgrade will see around 65,000 homes and businesses in Scotland gain access to lightning-fast broadband for the first time, helping to break down barriers to opportunity and support local economic growth.
Connecting these premises would not be possible at this point without important BDUK funding for Project Gigabit.
Island communities, in particular, will see significant improvements, with homes and businesses across the Outer Hebrides as well as the isles of Skye, Islay and Tiree set to see their broadband speeds reach the same levels as Scotland’s urban and inner-city communities. The upgrade will also reach the most rural parts of the Highlands, including Durness, which is considered the most north-westerly village on mainland Britain.
Project Gigabit is designed to deliver broadband upgrades to parts of the country which are too difficult or expensive for providers to reach in their commercial build plans. For households, gigabit-capable broadband delivers faster speeds and fewer dropouts. Unlike traditional copper-based networks, gigabit connections won’t slow down at peak times and can easily handle over a hundred devices at once with no buffering.
Openreach said ‘delivering these upgrades is vital for local economic growth, and we know from research we undertook on the impact of Openreach commercial build, that connecting everyone in Scotland would bring a multi-billion pound productivity boost. Our full fibre network also enables thousands of people to move to Scotland and to our rural communities. We encourage residents to visit our Fibre Checker and sign up for personalised Full Fibre updates as the build progresses for their home or business”.
You can visit the Policy Hub, where you can find out more.