Broadband rollout delivered in Penicuik

Work as part of Digital Scotland's Superfast Broadband (DSSB) rollout. Photo by Andy Forman.

Across Scotland, thanks to the programme, more than 940,000 premises are now able to connect to the new network, with more fibre broadband now available in Penicuik, as well as in Edinburgh, Innerwick in East Lothian and West Calder in West Lothian.

More than 80,000 homes and businesses across Edinburgh and the Lothians are now able to connect to the Digital Scotland network as engineers from Openreach continue work on the ground during 2019/20.

Paul Wheelhouse MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Energy, Connectivity and the Islands, said: “More and more people are now able to sign up to fibre broadband thanks to the £460m Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

“The difference that having fibre broadband can make to businesses or to improving the range of services available in the home is amazing. I’d urge everyone to take advantage of the faster speeds now available.

“There’s lots of competition out there and people may find they could be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service, but the key is for customers to contact one or more service providers to explore the options available to them, as upgrades to customers’ broadband packages are not automatic.”

Research has suggested that every £1 in public investment in fibre broadband in Scotland is delivering almost £12 of benefits to the Scottish economy. The independent report commissioned by DSSB and undertaken by consultants Analysys Mason estimates the total benefit from investment as £2.76 billion over 15 years.

Delivered through two projects - led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in its area and the Scottish Government in the rest of Scotland - funding partners also include the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), BT Group, local authorities and the EU via the European Regional Development Fund, with Openreach leading the build on the ground.

Robert Thorburn, partnership director for Openreach in Scotland, said: “The Digital Scotland rollout is still reaching new communities and bringing better broadband to rural residents, families and businesses.

“Better connectivity right across Scotland means digital progress on every level – from pupils doing homework and communities tapping in to the tourist trade online to virtual assistants like Alexa helping vulnerable people to live more independent lives.

“Our focus in Edinburgh for the final few months of the project will be building small, full fibre networks capable of gigabit speeds in harder-to-reach places.”

Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable connections at a range of speeds and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from. Local people can check if the new fibre services are available to them at www.scotlandsuperfast.com/yourstreet.

Thanks to additional investment as a result of innovation and new funding generated by stronger than expected take-up, the rollout will continue in every local authority area during 2019 and into 2020, complementing ongoing commercial build across Scotland.

More than 50 per cent of properties reached by the programme have switched to fibre broadband.