Greater ambition needed in Scotland’s broadband plans

By ANDREW WHITAKER
Published on 26/03/2012 11:44

GREATER ambition is needed for the future of broadband in Scotland, a report published today by the Scottish Parliament’s infrastructure and capital investment committee has said.

The report welcomes the Scottish Government’s action plan for developing broadband infrastructure, but warns that further steps are necessary if Scotland is to have a digital infrastructure to meet the needs of both business and consumers.

It calls for government action to ensure that rural areas in Scotland are not left behind on improvements to broadband access.

Committee convener Maureen Watt said: “The ability to access fast broadband connections is becoming more and more important in all aspects of our lives. A reliable and fast broadband connection helps socially but it is especially crucial in enabling businesses to be able to compete on the world stage. High quality digital infrastructure in Scotland is essential and our committee welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to delivering this.

“We received evidence from a wide range of individuals, communities and businesses concerned about unreliable and slow internet connections. These issues were shown to have a particularly detrimental effect on small and medium sized businesses outside the main urban centres of Scotland.

“To ensure that Scotland has the broadband services it needs, ambitious targets for the roll out of broadband infrastructure are needed, with a target of delivering a world class broadband infrastructure to 100 per cent of Scotland’s population by 2020.”