Digital Scotland to deliver FTTC coverage to 95 per cent

Representatives from the £428 million Digital Scotland (DSSB) project in partnership with BT (Openreach) have revealed that the campaign is on track to ensure fixed line "fibre broadband" (FTTC) coverage reaches 95 per cent of Scottish homes and businesses by the end of the year.

According to the project's figures, DSSB has managed to reach around 800,000 additional homes and commercial buildings since the scheme was first launched, with 34,000 new connections made in the past six months alone. Robert Thorburn, Openreach's Digital Partnership Director for Scotland, stated that the firm is working "flat out" to ensure as many Scottish communities than ever before have access to high-speed broadband.

The announcements from DSSB and Openreach follow news in June 2017 that revealed 90 per cent of premises across Scotland had the connections in place to receive 30Mbps "superfast broadband", although the programme revealed it has doubts as to whether the SNP's manifesto pledge of achieving 95 per cent covered by the end of 2017 is achievable.

However, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing remains positive that Scotland will continue to make faster progress with FTTC rollout than any other part of the country.

"Fast internet connection is vital to the economic and social wellbeing of our rural communities, supporting businesses and improving lives of local people," he said. "I am not complacent – I am aware that those who do not have access are at a disadvantage and our job is not done until everyone is connected. We are now focusing on the next steps to achieve 100% coverage by 2021."

Matt Hancock, UK minister for Digital, agreed with Ewing's comments, stating that the government plans to continue its support of Digital Scotland to ensure the whole of the UK has access to an affordable FTTC broadband connection by 2020.

(Image: Bidgee)