Openreach expands Scottish national broadband upgrade

 Full fibre broadband is heading to 28 more Scottish city suburbs, towns and villages, as part of a huge broadband upgrade by Openreach.

 People living in Port Glasgow in Inverclyde, Possil in Glasgow, Wester Hailes in Edinburgh, Grantown on Spey in the Highlands, Scone in Perth and Kinross, Tobermory on the Isle of Mull and 22 other communities are next in line for full fibre.

 Several new locations in Fife and South Lanarkshire will be upgraded, while more parts of Aberdeen and Dundee are also included. 

 They join 1.2 million homes and businesses across Scotland who already have access to the UK’s most reliable broadband technology, thanks to Openreach’s work.

 Across the UK, Openreach has published updated plans to build full fibre broadband to a record 517 more locations – covering a further 2.71 million homes and businesses.

 Robert Thorburn, Openreach partnership director for Scotland, said: “Our rollout of full fibre broadband is a huge infrastructure success story. As far as we know, no company is building faster or further in Europe.

 “We won’t be stopping any time soon. We now plan to build even further across Scotland, to more city locations, towns and our most rural communities.

 “Our engineers are working at a rapid pace despite the huge complexities of an engineering project on this scale, stretching from Shetland to Stranraer.”

 Robert added: “Our fibre checker has the latest information about our work in your area. It’s also worth noting that upgrades aren’t automatic. Once full fibre is available  where you live, you’ll need to place an order to get connected and we’ll do the rest!

 “Our network offers the widest choice of providers such as BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen – which means people have lots of choice and can get a great deal.”

 Scottish Government Employment and Investment Minister Tom Arthur said: “Digital infrastructure is a key enabler to support economic growth right across  Scotland. It’s why the Scottish Government is making record investment in broadband infrastructure this year, and we will continue to work alongside Openreach and other  partners to continue improving and extending our digital network to benefit communities and businesses across the country.

 “As a signatory of Scotland’s Full Fibre Charter, Openreach is committed to accelerating and prioritising rollout of the technology. This welcome programme of work will  bring continued significant investment in our workforce and national infrastructure, enabling more homes and businesses – including in our island and rural communities -  to access a full fibre connection.”

 The latest plans are part of Openreach’s £15 billion project to upgrade the UK’s broadband infrastructure – making gigabit-capable technology available to 25  million homes and businesses by the end of 2026, including 6.2 million in harder to reach, more remote and rural areas.

 More than 4.7 million homes and businesses across the UK have already upgraded to Full Fibre and demand continues to flow, with more than 50,000 orders  being placed each week.

 Openreach has also refreshed its online map and postcode checker to give the public a clearer, regularly updated view of its plans and progress between now and  2026. The map now shows the levels of current and future expected full fibre coverage as of today, taking data from all of its build programmes, whilst the  postcode checker continues to offer the most personalised view of the connectivity available to an individual home or business.

 Further updates will be provided as any additional locations are added in future.

ENDS

 Notes to editors 

The full list of locations being announced for full fibre upgrade today is:

[1] Fig refers to expected build in these exchange areas