Plans for superfast broadband in town
Stonehouse residents will benefit from the installation of superfast broadband.
Openreach outlined plans to make ultrafast, ultra-reliable and future-proof broadband available in the town.
Stonehouse will benefit as part of the company’s previously-stated target to reach four million homes and businesses with ‘full fibre’ technology by the end of March 2021.
That is part of a bigger announcement involving ‘harder to reach’ areas across the UK, with building to start in the next 14 months.
The Stonehouse build is part of the company’s ambition to extend its new ‘full’ fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network outside cities.
That work builds on successful costbusting trials launched at the tail end of last year, which have seen engineers develop a range of new tools, skills and techniques to help Openreach build full fibre in areas previously considered too complex or expensive to upgrade.
The move has been welcomed by
Dr Lisa Cameron, MP, who said: “I am delighted that Stonehouse will benefit from full fibre to the premises in the near future.
“Rural areas of my constituency have been adversely affected by lack of full fibre broadband for too long.
“Stonehouse will now see a benefit for businesses, schools and personal use, and I want this benefit to be expanded across all of my constituency.
“I will continue to work with Openreach to ensure this happens.”
Robert Thorburn, Openreach’s partnership director for Scotland, said: “This is great news for people living and working in Stonehouse, and builds on Openreach’s strong track record of working in rural areas.
“For years we’ve played a key role alongside public sector partners to upgrade 94 per cent of Scotland to superfast broadband.
“This announcement is about taking the next step and building a full fibre network that is not only faster, but also more reliable and future-proof for generations to come.
“We are committing significant capital and resources to rural Scotland in the months and years ahead, including connecting up some of the hardest-toreach locations, in partnership with the Scottish Government.”
There are clear economic benefits to building full fibre in rural areas. In a report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), it was revealed that connecting everyone in Scotland to ‘full fibre’ broadband by 2025 will create a £4.5 billion boost to the nation’s economy,
The report also revealed that 37,400 people in Scotland could be brought back into the workforce through enhanced connectivity, including roles within small businesses and entrepreneurs. It will also allow thousands more people to work remotely.
Openreach’s CEO Clive Selley said: “Our full fibre build programme is going great guns, having passed more than two million premises already on the way to our four million target by March 2021.
“We’re now building at around 26,000 premises a week in over 100 locations, reaching a new home or business every 23 seconds.
“That’s up from 13,000 premises a week this time last year.”