THE Scottish and UK Governments have announced plans to increase funding in a delayed rural broadband programme by £36 million.
The cash, the Scottish Government said on Friday, will help to connect a further 2637 rural properties to the internet with speeds of up to 1000 megabits per second.
Initial commitments as part of the scheme pledged to increase speeds to 30 megabits per second.
Contracts as part of the Reaching 100% (R100) scheme, which was designed to improve internet connectivity across the country, in the north and south of the country will be expanded as a result of the investment.
Some 1488 properties in Argyll and Bute, the Western Isles, Orkney and Shetland will be impacted, while a further 1149 in Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire, East Lothian, Midlothian, the Borders, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire will also benefit.
The completion of the R100 scheme has been delayed to around 2027 after initial plans said work would be finished last year.
The investment has been divided between Holyrood and Westminster, with the Scottish Government providing £20m and the UK Government chipping in £16m.
Scottish Government business minister Ivan McKee said: “This latest investment will connect more homes and businesses in Scotland’s rural and island communities to gigabit capable broadband.
“That will have far-reaching economic, social and development impacts.
“Our R100 programme is going further, and providing faster broadband, than originally envisaged.
“This takes time and significant investment, but we are fully committed to ensuring that as many people as possible are able to enjoy the important advantages of this future-proofed digital infrastructure.”
The UK’s digital infrastructure minister, Matt Warman, said: “Bringing lightning-fast and reliable broadband to hard-to-reach areas is at the heart of the UK Government’s mission to level up communities, and that’s exactly what we’re doing in Scotland with our additional £16m investment in R100.
“We’ve already delivered faster broadband to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses across Scotland and there is even more investment on the way thanks to Project Gigabit, our record £5 billion programme to bring growth and prosperity to rural areas by putting them in the digital fast lane.”
Orkney MSP Liam McArthur said the news was “very welcome indeed”.
