East Kilbride connected to faster broadband network
ANDREA LAMBROU
More households and businesses in South Lanarkshire can now upgrade to faster fibre broadband.
Through the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) rollout, all premises to be reached – in East Kilbride, Douglas Water and Cambuslang – are connected to a full fibre network.
Also known as Fibre-to-the-Premises or FTTP, the gigabit-capable technology provides ultrafast broadband directly into local homes.
Across Scotland more than 944,000 premises have now been passed by the programme. More than 5000 new fibre street cabinets are now live – offering broadband services at speeds up to 80Mbps* – and more than 15,000km of cable has been laid.
Engineers from Openreach will continue work on the ground in South Lanarkshire during 2020, thanks to additional investment as a result of innovation and new funding generated by stronger than expected take-up.
Across Scotland, more than 60 per cent of properties reached by the programme have now switched to faster fibre broadband.
Fibre technology offers fast and reliable connections at a range of speeds.
Sara Budge, DSSB Programme director, said: “More and more people have now signed up or are able to sign up to fibre broadband thanks to the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme, and it is particularly pleasing to see this in rural areas and rural market villages such as Auldhouse near East providers to explore the options available to them, as upgrades to customers’ broadband packages are not automatic.”
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 Building Digital UK (BDUK), BT Group, local authorities and the EU via the European Regional Development Fund, with Openreach leading the build on the ground.
Councillor John Anderson, chair of South Lanarkshire Council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, said: “It’s great news that the DSSB programme has reached more homes and businesses in places like Douglas Water and Auldhouse near East Kilbride. Whether you work from home or enjoy gaming, or simply just want to download a movie - having high-speed broadband lets this happen.”
Robert Thorburn, Partnership Director for Openreach in Scotland, said: “The Digital Scotland project is still breaking new ground. More than 32,800 homes and business premises in South Lanarkshire can now connect to a fibre service.
“The Digital Scotland rollout is a huge civil engineering success which has reached 100,000 more premises than planned and beat targets on time and under budget. It’s fantastic that 60 per cent of the homes and businesses we’ve passed have now upgraded, and I’d encourage anyone who hasn’t yet made the move to check if they could get a faster service.”
Check if the new fibre services are available to you at scotlandsuperfast. com/yourstreet.