SNP Government is ensuring future-proofed, superfast broadband for all by 2021
In an age of burgeoning technological advancements, digital connectivity is playing an increasingly influential role in Scotland’s economic success. In homes and offices, connecting to the web and social media via reliable and efficient broadband is fast becoming essential for success and helps deliver inclusive economic growth.
It also helps businesses in rural and urban areas to innovate and grow, prepares young people for tomorrow’s workplace and supports the growth of a skilled workforce fit for the digital century.
Investment is key, and our programme – run by my Cabinet colleague Fergus Ewing – to upgrade Scotland’s fibre broadband network is leading the way, with an ambition to ensure all parts of Scotland are covered.
The latest figures are currently being assured but we shortly expect to confirm that our Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme achieved its target of extending fibre broadband access to 95 per cent of homes and premises by the end of 2017.
However our job is not yet done, as still too many of our rural communities remain with limited or no broadband access.
We therefore announced the single largest public investment ever made in a UK broadband project – some £600 million through the ‘Reaching 100 per cent’ project. This investment is targeted more specifically at rural and remote Scotland, ensuring that every home and business across Scotland will be able to access superfast broadband by 2021.
It is a commitment, and a programme, entirely unique to Scotland. It is a choice the Scottish Government has made – superfast broadband for all.
No other part of the UK has matched our ambition. Put in context, the Scottish Government’s £600m investment is more than three times larger than that of Westminster’s Fibre Fund which will cover the whole of the UK, and Scotland’s impressive progress is underlined by Ofcom’s figures showing we have progressed faster in extending superfast broadband access than any other UK nation.
Had we not aimed high and chosen a path best suited to our particular broadband needs, swathes of rural Scotland would be left in the economic slow-lane.