Thousands more households and businesses across Cunninghame North are now able to connect to high-speed fibre thanks to the £428 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband roll-out. Premises in Adrossan, Beith, Dalry, Kilbirnie, Largs and West Kilbride are among the latest to be reached, extending existing coverage.
Most of the latest local connections to be upgraded were previously ‘Exchange Only’ lines, a legacy of the copper network once thought to be out of the reach of high-speed fibre services. Such lines run directly from the exchange to homes and business premises, bypassing the usual road-side cabinets which are a vital part of the fibre roll-out. Engineers worked out an innovative way to integrate these lines into the fibre network, laying new cables to reroute lines through extra road-side cabinets.
More than 750,000 premises across Scotland can now connect to their fastest-ever broadband speeds through the Digital Scotland roll-out, with around 77,000 reached in the last six months. People need to sign up for the new, faster services with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic.
Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable broadband connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps* and there are many suppliers to choose from. Whether you own a business, work from home or want to keep in touch with friends and family, fibre broadband enables multiple users to connect to the internet and get better, faster access to online services.
The programme is delivered through two projects, led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in this area and the SNP Government in the rest of Scotland. BT is investing £126M, and the total project value includes around £18 million which is being reinvested back in to the programme as a result of stronger than expected early take-up.
Kenneth Gibson said:
“More than 90% of Scotland now has fibre broadband. The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme is progressing further and we are reaching some very small and more remote communities, as well as extending coverage across Cunninghame North.
“The SNP Government is committed to delivering 100% superfast broadband access across Scotland by 2021.”
Robert Thorburn, BT Scotland’s Fibre Broadband Director, added:
“The Digital Scotland fibre rollout continues to make good progress. Thanks to engineering innovation, thousands of people on lines once thought to be incapable of carrying a superfast service are now able to upgrade to higher speeds. With strong take-up rates set to drive the reinvestment of millions of pounds back into the network, we look forward to continuing work on this huge and challenging infrastructure project to benefit the people of Scotland.”
The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme underpins the SNP Government’s aim for Scotland to become a world class digital nation by 2020. People can check the Digital Scotland website to find out if they can get a fibre-based service.
ENDS
*These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
