Stirling is at the forefront of digital change
MP FOR STIRLING
Recently, I attended a virtual celebration event with CityFibre - the company that has invested in delivering full fibre services to the city of Stirling - alongside Stirling Council leader Scott Farmer.
Barely four years ago, the idea of stretching full fibre connectivity to every business and residential premises in the city of Stirling was pitched to the local area and I imagine many read the headline announcement thinking‘yeah, right’, so unbelievable and ambitious was the prospect. This means that everyone who has access to this infrastructure would be able to access speeds of up to 1000Mbps - or a Gigabit.
For those who aren’t technically minded (I confess, I often fall into this bracket), 1000Mbps is fast. Very fast. For reference, the widely accepted definition of so-called ‘super-fast’broadband is just 24Mbps. The EU’s definition (and the Scottish Government’s R100 programme target) is greater at 30Mbps.
Whilst this is good news, I am conscious that this project only affects the city.
The Scottish Government has moved mountains in reaching businesses and households with super-fast broadband. The Stirling constituency truly is Scotland in miniature. Much of the rural part of the constituency is sparsely populated and therefore difficult to reach with high-speed broadband infrastructure.Yet figures from last year show that around 90 per cent of properties across this constituency now have access to what is classed as super-fast broadband (30Mbps) - much of which is thanks to Scottish Government intervention.
This is an incredible achievement, particularly considering telecommunications remains largely reserved to Westminster and the communities I represent have been let down by the UK government’s rollout of super-fast broadband for so long.
However, attending the celebratory event with CityFibre this week has again demonstrated to me what having access to this incredible technology can unlock.
Now around 18,000 premises in the Stirling city area are connected (or are able to be if they choose to sign up), it has meant that city residents on the network have had access to faster speeds when working from home - a game changer in these Covid times. I know from speaking to colleagues in Stirling Council that the local authority is doing what it can to connect much of its estate to the fibre network, including libraries and schools. Indeed, locally, around 7000 teachers and pupils will be able to access ultrafast, full fibre broadband in school buildings.
In addition to this, there are dizzying estimates around what this new network can achieve in terms of economic growth and job creation. The Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal has, at its heart, transforming the local economy into one that competes on the digital stage. Our future is online.Young people, growing up today, will have jobs when they’re older that don’t yet exist. Stirling and Scotland needs to make sure it is ahead of the game on this so that as the natural progression to awards a more digital world continues, we emerge as a serious player.
Scotland is not an easy country to roll this sort of infrastructure out to. We are home to the most spectacular and sparsely populated parts of the UK. But as the digital revolution marches on, the reliance on connectivity becomes more important, and the divide between what private investors are willing to do in cities and in rural landscapes seems to get wider.
With continued success in broadband rollout by the Scottish Government, we need to keep in mind that there may never be an end to what we need to do to update our tech infrastructure. It’s what our economy and livelihoods rely on. It’s a conversation that isn’t going away any time soon.
Around 18,000 premises in the city area are connected