£160m boost for ultrafast broadband in Scotland

Edinburgh full fibre city build 06

Around 400,000 more Scottish homes and businesses are set to benefit from a broadband boost in the region of £160m[1] thanks to Openreach – the UK’s largest broadband network provider.

People living and working in another 48 urban areas – including Dunfermline, Falkirk, Ibrox, Govan, Bridge of Weir, Paisley and Livingston – are set to benefit from the company’s national upgrade plan, with the majority of premises in each area gaining access to the latest ultrafast, ultra-reliable Full Fibre broadband.

More than 250,000 households and businesses in the Glasgow City Region are included – an investment of over £100m in the area – with 31 areas to benefit; while Openreach plans to expand its ultrafast network in cities like Edinburgh and Aberdeen and start work in Culloden, Inverness.

Work will take place between now and 2026, and more details of the full list of locations and timescales are published on Openreach’s website. A full list of the locations is below.

The news comes after a similar announcement last month, when 300,000 premises – in 160 mainly rural and harder to serve areas across Scotland – were also included in the build plan.

Both announcements build on Openreach’s existing work across Scotland, where more than 400,000 homes and businesses can already order ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband.

Following a competitive tender process, a number of partners – including Morrison Telecom Services (MTS), Kier and KN Circet – were chosen by Openreach to support the Scottish upgrades and will play a crucial role in building the new network to thousands of premises in these locations.

Robert Thorburn, strategic infrastructure director for Openreach Scotland, said: “Nobody in Scotland is building full fibre faster, further or better than Openreach. We’re reaching more communities than ever and our team of highly-skilled engineers, alongside our build partners, are working hard to deliver some of the fastest and most reliable broadband available anywhere in the world.

“Just last month we announced 160 rural and hard to reach locations across Scotland were to benefit, so it’s great that we’re able to reveal another huge broadband boost with these additional urban locations. Our investment and commitment to Scotland – whether it’s urban or rural – will help to underpin economic recovery, stability and a stronger, more equal society.”

Barry McNicholas, group managing director of Kier Utilities, said: “The need for reliable and fast broadband speeds has never been greater and we are proud to be working with Openreach to support their ambitious plans of bringing full fibre broadband to homes and businesses across the UK. We look forward to building new digital infrastructure in places like Dunfermline, where we will be working with our local teams and supply chain partners to carry out these works.”

Pat Carolan, managing director of Morrison Telecom Services, said: “The last eighteen months have highlighted the importance of keeping people connected and we recognise that we have a pivotal role to play in helping Openreach to deliver full fibre broadband to Scotland. We look forward to supporting Openreach’s commitment to delivering ultrafast connectivity to homes and businesses in the local community and the many employment, social, economic and environmental benefits that this will bring. Our role is to ensure that the new network is built efficiently, safely and without any compromise on quality.”

Stephen Martin, UK CEO of KN Circet, added: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Openreach to boost full fibre broadband rollout in Scotland. As demand for full fibre increases dramatically it is great to see KN Circet continuing to safely provide a high-quality product in support of Openreach’s delivery ambitions. I would like to thank Openreach for choosing KN Circet as a build partner. We look forward to further strengthening our partnership to deliver ultrafast full fibre to Scotland.”

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 more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the UK by the end of 2026. The latest details and timescales will be available online as the build planning progresses.

Recent research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) highlighted the clear economic benefits of connecting everyone in Scotland to full fibre. It estimated this would create a £2 billion boost to the economy by enabling thousands to join the workforce and increase hours.

Openreach employs 3,200 people in Scotland, with another 700+ employed by its build partners.

This short video explains what Full Fibre technology is and you can find out more about our Fibre First programme, latest availability and local plans here. Across the UK, the company has made Full Fibre available to more than five million homes and business so far.

Notes to Editors

[1] Investment figure based on an average build cost of £400 per premises

The full list of new Scottish locations included in today’s announcement is: