Broadband boost for rural Perthshire

Perthshire villages have received a broadband boost as a new superfast programme has been hailed a success.

Thanks to the programme funded through a £428 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband rollout, more than 870,000 premises are able to connect to the new network, which has reached places like Aberfeldy, Logie, Little Dunkeld and Glenalmomd.

Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said:“Once again it is very positive news knowing that more premises than ever before now have fibre broadband available to them.

“However, these upgrades are not automatic.

“I would encourage more people to check whether they are eligible on the DSSB website and contact a service provider of their choice to start receiving faster broadband.

“I am not complacent – I am aware that those who do not have access are at a disadvantage and our job is not done until everyone is connected.

“We are now focusing on the next steps to achieve 100 per cent coverage by 2021.”

Robert Thorburn, Openreach digital partnership director for Scotland, added:“The Digital Scotland rollout is a huge success story, especially given the significant extra work and unique challenges posed by our vast geography.

“At the start of the Digital Scotland project we said that we would reach an additional 750,000 premises on top of our commercial investments, and we’ve gone well beyond this.

“More than 2.5 million Scottish households and businesses now have access to high speed broadband over the Openreach digital network.

“Of course there’s more to do and our engineers are keeping up the pace to reach even more remote and rural communities during 2018.”