Lossiemouth homes missing out on faster broadband
More than 2,100 homes and businesses in Lossiemouth now have access to ultrafast broadband – but just 15 per cent of those who could upgrade have made the move to the new, full fibre network.
People living and working in the town and surrounding area are being encouraged to find out more about gigabit-capable broadband as the latest figures show that Openreach’s full fibre network – used by the likes of BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen – is now available to almost 60 per cent of local premises.
So far, Openreach has invested more than £600,0001 in bringing full fibre to Lossiemouth, with engineers building the network over the last two years to make ultrafast speeds of up to one gigabit per second (Gbps) available.
Across Moray, Openreach has now linked up half of all properties to its full fibre network, with 22,300 homes and 1,700 businesses benefiting from a £7.2m investment to date1, and one in three of those has upgraded.
As well as being faster, full fibre broadband provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity, with fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds; and enough capacity to use multiple devices at once.
Robert Thorburn, Openreach’s Partnership Director for Scotland, said: “Half of all Moray households can now get a faster, more reliable broadband service. We want to make sure this high degree of connectivity - which is on a par with our full fibre build in Scotland’s capital - helps local communities to thrive.
“Although demand across Moray is healthy, thousands more people could still benefit right now. Low take-up particularly impacts Lossiemouth, where 85 per cent of those who could be better connected are currently missing out.
“Gigabit-capable broadband can have a huge impact on people’s lives, but there’s also lots of evidence that it boosts local economies and brings new opportunities for business and public services.”
He added: “Full fibre provides the best broadband experience at great value for money but upgrades don’t happen automatically. People need to place an order with their chosen providers to get connected, and our engineers will do the rest.
“Our network offers the widest choice of providers, so people can shop around for the best deals. Packages are increasingly competitively priced, for a much-improved service.”
Local people can check their broadband options on the Openreach website.
1 Investment figure based on an average UK build cost of £300 per premises.
