Openreach is helping to feed a nation hungry for data - Katie Milligan

Scotland’s a data-hungry nation. We consume more than 100 million gigabytes of data every single week – and that's just over our broadband networks at home.

It’s the equivalent of every household in Scotland streaming their favourite HD film ten times a week. Or us spending 90 million hours on Zoom calls; or downloading Elden Ring – last year’s best-selling game – two million times! 

It’s mind-blowing.

And, of course, it’s not just being used for entertainment.

Katie Milligan, Chair of the Openreach Scotland Board.

It’s rural enterprises selling to the world, public bodies delivering vital local services, doctors making remote diagnoses and businesses connecting customers to bookings, information and products.

The unseen impact of better broadband is all around us and, in the midst of this relentless digital work, rest and play, it’s understandable to see constant political and consumer demand for ever-improving digital infrastructure.

At Openreach, we’re at the heart of meeting that demand.

And I make no bones about it. Scotland is one of the hardest places to connect in Europe.

If someone had designed a network planner’s worst nightmare, it would look a lot like Scotland. The granite hills, windswept islands, historic housing and myriad rural communities of this beautiful country are a real challenge to connect.

But thankfully, our engineers love a challenge.

I’ll never tire of seeing the commitment and ingenuity of our people working out in the field. Working to connect families and communities in all kinds of situations. Working to keep Scotland online.

That immense effort and innovation sees us marking a significant milestone this week, with one million Scottish premises – from Burravoe in Shetland’s North Isles to Annan in Dumfries and Galloway – now able to connect to our new Full Fibre network.

Fibre-optics transmit masses of information in light pulses which run along glass strands thinner than human hairs. But what really brings the infrastructure alive is the connections it creates, cemented during Covid.

For me, it’s keeping my mum in Ardrossan connected to her first grand-daughter in a way that wasn’t possible before, living hundreds of miles apart.

But the digital transformation prize is also huge for the whole nation.

Full Fibre could add £4.5bn to Scotland’s bottom line over time, help thousands rejoin the workforce and reduce carbon emissions.

This transformation doesn’t rest entirely on getting new fibre cables in the ground. It can’t happen without them, but real digital prosperity in Scotland will only be realised by the people and businesses the infrastructure supports.

It’s their creativity and enterprise that will inevitably find new, innovative ways of making the most of our world leading technology.

And that leads to the next challenge.

Around 640,000 Scottish households could upgrade to a Full Fibre service right now, but they just haven’t made the switch yet. Maybe they’re not aware.

Cost shouldn’t be a barrier – with dozens of providers competing for customers, people may well find it’s cheaper to switch to Full Fibre than staying on their existing service.

I love championing our new fibre infrastructure, and explaining its technical wonders.

But the best part comes when we get to celebrate the incredible things people achieve using those fast-travelling pulses of light.

Katie Milligan, Chair of the Openreach Scotland Board.