Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband reaches more of Renfrewshire
To help promote the fact that fibre broadband is widely available in Renfrewshire, the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband team were out and about in Kilbarchan this week to continue their ‘Up your Street’ campaign.
They popped past Kilbarchan Primary School where some of the pupils joined in the fun.
More than 22,000 homes and businesses across Renfrewshire can now upgrade to faster fibre broadband through the £428 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband rollout. Local people need to sign up for the new, faster services with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic.
Across Scotland, more than 890,000 premises are able to connect to the new network thanks to the programme. Areas across Renfrewshire to benefit from the Digital Scotland rollout, led by the Scottish Government, include Kilbarchan, Paisley and Thornly Park. More local coverage will follow as engineers from Openreach – Scotland’s digital network business – continue work on the ground.
Each week the programme, one of the largest broadband infrastructure projects in Europe, reaches more remote and rural areas.
Across the country nearly 4,500 new fibre street cabinets are now live and more than 11,000km of cable has been laid by engineers from Openreach, Scotland’s digital network business. Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable broadband connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps1 and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from.
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.
Thanks to additional investment as a result of innovation and new funding generated by stronger than expected take-up, the programme will deliver new DSSB deployment in every local authority area during 2018 and into 2019, complementing ongoing commercial build across Scotland.
Fiona MacKenzie, Head teacher said; “ Kilbarchan Primary School pupils are delighted to be part of Digital Scotland's programme of events! We are looking forward to seeing around the Fibre Broadband Showcase bus when it visits the school in June so that we can learn more about what is happening with the new fibre network.
"Our pupils make great use of digital technologies on a daily basis: sharing their learning with their parents and carers through Glow; learning how to code; creating presentations; and researching interesting facts. Having faster, more reliable internet access can only serve to improve these experiences for our young people and we look forward to finding out more.”
Robert Thorburn, Fibre Broadband Director for Openreach in Scotland, said: “As the rollout nears its end stages, we’re really digging in to some harder-to-reach communities and places where the engineering challenges are more significant.
“Many of these latest lines have been converted from a format once thought incompatible with high-speed fibre broadband, and we’re increasingly using ultrafast Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) to deliver the network directly into some individual dwellings.
“It’s really a privilege for all of us at Openreach to be able to play such an important part in the life of local communities. We know there’s always more to do and we are up for the challenge.”
ENDS
1 These are the top wholesale speeds available over the Openreach networks to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.
Notes to editors:
Due to the current network topography and the economics of deployment, it is likely that not all premises within selected areas will be able to access fibre-based broadband at the same point in the roll-out.
The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme aims to provide fibre broadband infrastructure to parts of Scotland not included in commercial providers’ investment plans, and has reached around 95 per cent of premises when combined with current commercial roll-out plans.
About BDUK
Superfast Britain is a UK Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:
£780m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017
£150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
£150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services
Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life.
For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk
