Broadband roll-out not wide enough

THE latest expansion of superfast broadband has been hailed as good news for residents in South Queensferry, but not for people living just a few miles away.

Edinburgh West Liberal Democrat MP Mike Crockart said his constituents in nearby rural communities were losing out because it was not commercially attractive to give them the latest high-speed connections.

Seven Edinburgh exchanges are included in the latest phase of BT’s £2.5 billion roll-out of fibre optic broadband. Around 125,000 homes and businesses in and around the Capital will now be part of the network.

Mr Crockart said: “This is great news for residents and businesses in South Queensferry. However, whilst South Queensferry will benefit, other communities like Kirkliston, Ratho, Ratho Station and Dalmeny still suffer from speeds which are well below average.

“It just isn’t acceptable for some to be able to download a song in around two seconds, while people just a few miles down the road have speeds of between only one and two megabits per second. For them, it can take just under two hours to download a file of 585mb.”