Gigabit broadband boost for over 1500 north-east homes and businesses
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OVER 1500 hard to reach homes and businesses in Moray and Aberdeenshire will be given access to next generation broadband through the UK government’s Project Gigabit.
An £8 million cash injection announced by the Chancellor in the budget will be used to make much faster gigabit-speed internet available to 1511 premises in the two regions.
In all, some 3600 premises will benefit across Moray (620), Aberdeenshire (891 premises), Aberdeen City (60), the Highlands (952), Angus (601) and Perth and Kinross (476).
The buildings in need of funding identified across the six Scottish local authorities all currently have sub-superfast speeds below 30 megabits per second.
The 3600 homes and businesses were in line to be upgraded to superfast broadband as part of the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100 per cent (R100) programme. However, thanks to a new agreement between the UK and Scottish Governments, these areas will now get access to even faster full fibre broadband, capable of blistering download speeds of 1000 megabits – or one gigabit – per second.
Gigabit-capable broadband has the bandwidth and reliability needed for several people to work from home, stream ultra high definition video content and play next-generation online games all at the same time. The aim is to help accelerate the country’s recovery from Covid-19, fire up high-growth sectors such as tech and the creative industries, and enable people to start and run businesses online from anywhere in the UK.
UK Digital Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “Project Gigabit is our programme to level up communities in Scotland and the UK with internet connections people need now and in the coming decades.
“Our £8 million investment will end battles over bandwidth in hard-to-reach homes across northern Scotland and be the rocket fuel rural businesses need to grow and take advantage of new technologies.”
Scotland’s Economy Secretary Kate Forbes commented: “The role of digital connectivity cannot be underestimated as we work to ensure Scotland recovers from the pandemic with a stronger, greener and fairer economy.
“For Scottish residents and businesses, particularly in remote and rural areas, improved access to faster broadband plays a key role in our everyday lives while we continue to work, learn and access public services remotely.
“The £384 million we are investing, alongside £8 million of UK government funding, will ensure that all R100 contract build in the north of Scotland will be fibre to the premises, capable of delivering gigabit speeds and providing future-proofed, resilient connectivity to some of our most remote and rural communities.”
Project Gigabit is the biggest broadband rollout in UK history and part of the UK Prime Minister’s plan to level up communities across the UK with the future-proofed connectivity people will need for the next 40 years.
The £8 million from Project Gigabit, on top of the £384 million already committed through R100, will mean that all of the 59,276 premises included in the Scottish Government’s original allocation for the north of Scotland will have access to the best commercial internet connections available
The news follows £4.5 million of Project Gigabit funding announced in February to connect more than 5,300 homes and businesses across central Scotland to much faster gigabit broadband. This includes premises in Ayrshire, Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Stirlingshire, Greater Glasgow and Lothian.
The projects will help the UK government deliver its target for at least 85 per cent of the UK to have access to a gigabit-capable connection by 2025.
