More than 300,000 rural and island homes in Scotland are set to get ultra fast broadband in a expansion huge programme.
People in hard to reach areas have claimed they have been left behind as the internet revolution has reshaped many people’s lives.
But in a “five-year feat of civil engineering”, Openreach is upgrading 160 exchanges and stretching its fibre strands to places that currently suffer from slow speeds or no broadband at all.
Island communities like Brodick on Arran, Portree on Skye, Stornoway, Kirkwall and Lerwick are included.
More than 60,000 households and businesses set to benefit across the Highlands and Islands, with 30,000 in Aberdeenshire, 20,000 in Angus, 30,000 in Dumfries and Galloway and 25,000 across Ayrshire.
More than 160 exchange areas across Scotland will be upgraded, with the majority of homes and businesses in Fort William, Oban, Turriff, Burntisland, North Berwick, Pitlochry, Carstairs and Stranraer set to see improved service.
Scotland’s Economy Secretary Kate Forbes said: “This is good news for Scotland. The rollout of ultrafast broadband to so many more rural communities is vitally important, especially as we focus on recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Continued commercial build is an important part of the Reaching 100% Programme’s aim to provide access to superfast speeds for all premises. This focus on rural and hard-to-reach areas is exactly what I want to see and I look forward to hearing that these 300,000 addresses are connected.”
Robert Thorburn, Openreach Scotland’s strategic infrastructure director, said: “Building a new broadband network across Scotland is a massive challenge and some parts of the country will inevitably require further public funding.
“But our expanded build plan means any future taxpayer subsidies can be limited to only the hardest to connect homes and businesses. And with investments from other builders, we’d hope to see that shrink further.”
The new announcement expands on Openreach’s existing nationwide build plans, which already include hundreds of thousands more premises in 100 other Scottish cities, towns and villages.
The company’s updated build plan follows an extended investment commitment by its parent, BT Group – which means Openreach will now build Full Fibre technology to a total of 25 million UK premises, including the additional three million in hardest-to-serve communities.
The vast majority of the new locations fall within the ‘final third’, which is defined by Ofcom as 9.5 million premises in the least commercially viable areas of the UK for competitive broadband infrastructure upgrades.
