Highlands and Islands broadband to get £146m boost

A £146million boost to deliver high-speed fibre broadband across the Highlands and Islands has been widely welcomed.

The project is being led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and will be delivered by BT. It is being funded by £126.4m of public money and £19.4m from BT.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said it was one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in Scotland’s history. She added: “It will connect communities across some of the most challenging landscapes in Europe and provides a platform for future economic development and regeneration.

“Next generation broadband enables businesses to compete on the international stage.

“It has the potential to transform the way in which we educate our children, provide health and social care and deliver our public services.”

The Scottish government, HIE and the UK government initiative Broadband Delivery UK are helping to fund the project.

BT will lay more than 497 miles (800km) of new fibre on land and about 248.9 miles (400km) of subsea cables over 19 crossings to remote islands.

The company said it would be the biggest subsea engineering project it had undertaken in the UK, and the first ever with so many seabed crossings.

Highland Council leader Drew Hendry said: “This is excellent news for people at home and business throughout the Highlands and Islands.

“The Council’s Administration fully supports the work of HIE, BT, the Scottish and UK Governments to provide Highland homes and business with broadband services fit for the 21st century.

“We will continue to support innovative and community-based schemes to drive delivery. We also look forward to viewing the detailed plans for each local authority area which are to be announced in due course.”

Stewart Nicol, Chief Executive of Inverness Chamber of Commerce, said: “We believe poor connectivity is the single biggest challenge faced by many Highland businesses.

“This announcement will help businesses overcome the geographical and transport infrastructure challenges we live with in the Highlands and compete in a global market.

“Superfast broadband will also help attract inward investors to the region and in turn provide jobs and a boost to the economy. We will be connected to the rest of the world and able to take advantage of progressing business technologies.

“Our next challenge is to lobby mobile network providers to roll out 4G in Inverness and 3G across the rest of the region.”

SCDI’s Highlands and Islands Manager Fraser Grieve said: “Broadband connectivity plays an increasingly important role in the day to day lives of both businesses and consumers and today’s announcement will see measures put in place to ensure that the Highlands and Islands are able to compete in the global market.

“This is an ambitious and challenging project but one that will revolutionise communication across the North, support economic growth and enhance our competitiveness.”

Alex Paterson, Chief Executive of HIE, said: “This ambitious project is a game changer for the Highlands and Islands. It will roll out modern, fast and reliable broadband to areas that could not have hoped to have it introduced commercially.

“Digital connectivity is essential to today’s social and business activity. High-speed fibre broadband in the Highlands and Islands will make a real contribution to our communities’ prosperity, particularly for people in remote and rural areas.

“It offers opportunities for new ways of working, innovation, enhanced public services, access to international markets and provides the infrastructure needed by business sectors like energy, life sciences, tourism and business services.”

The public sector investment towards the contract is £126.4m. It is being delivered through the Scottish Government broadband fund, which incorporates funding from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), and also includes up to £12m from HIE’s own budget.

BT is investing an additional £19.4 million in the project, on top of its investment in its wider commercial roll-out for the region, taking the total project value to around £146 million.

BDUK is responsible for increasing access to broadband on behalf of the UK Coalition Government.

Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: “The geography of the Highlands and Islands makes this project one of the most challenging in our nationwide roll out of broadband, and I’m delighted that today’s announcement means that faster speeds and better access are now one step closer to becoming a reality for these communities.

“We do more business online than any other European country and this will be a tremendous boost for the local Highland and Islands economies.”

The local authority areas covered are Highland Council, Moray Council, Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council), Argyll and Bute Council and part of North Ayrshire Council (Arran and The Cumbraes).