Biggar scores with Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband

Around 1,500 homes and businesses in Biggar are now able to connect to high-speed fibre broadband – thanks to the £410m Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

Biggar Rugby Football Club joined the Digital Scotland team on the High Street on Monday to unveil one of the new fibre street cabinets that will serve part of the town.

Alistair Stewart, the President at Biggar Rugby Football Club, said: “We run an Academy at the club and video all our youth and senior matches. Previously, we found that our download speed was an issue as it would take such a long time to get a video onto the platform we use to help the players evaluate performance. The launch of fibre broadband in the area will enable us to have a faster speed, which is a real advantage.”

Other nearby places to benefit from the Digital Scotland rollout, led by the Scottish Government, include Dolphinton and Carnwath. More local coverage will follow as engineers from Openreach, BT’s local network business, continue work on the ground.

Chair of South Lanarkshire Council’s Enterprise Services Committee, Councillor Chris Thompson, said: “Super-fast fibre broadband will benefit both local residents and businesses. Broadband is an essential part of South Lanarkshire’s present and future. It’s vital that we embrace this latest generation of technology in order for our local economy to remain competitive.

“Better, faster communications boost businesses, helping them grow, and create more jobs. What’s more, local residents can enjoy faster browsing and downloading at home. This is great news for Biggar and I look forward to fibre being rolled out across the rest of the area.”

Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable broadband connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps* and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from. Whether you own a business, work from home or want to keep in touch with friends and family, fibre broadband enables multiple users to connect to the internet at high speeds and get better, faster access to online services.

Sara Budge, Programme Director for Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, said: “It’s exciting news to hear that fibre broadband is available to homes and businesses in Biggar thanks to the programme. It was great to have Biggar Rugby Football Club join us today to welcome its arrival.”

BT is investing £126m in the Digital Scotland rollout. Liz Mallinson, BT Scotland’s Fibre Broadband Director, concluded: “Thousands of residents in South Lanarkshire now have the opportunity to access their best ever broadband speeds when they sign up with a service provider. There’s lots of competition out there and people may find they could be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service.”

Local people need to sign up for the new services with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic. People can check the interactive map on the Digital Scotland website (http://www.scotlandsuperfast.com/where-when/) to find out if they can get the service and further information is also available on Twitter @ScotSuperfast or Facebook at www.facebook.com/scotlandsuperfast

ENDS

*These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

Notes to editors:

Due to the current network topography and the economics of deployment, it is likely that not all premises within selected exchange areas will be able to access fibre-based broadband at the same point in the roll-out.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme aims to provide fibre broadband infrastructure to parts of Scotland not included in commercial providers’ investment plans. Combined with current commercial roll-out plans, the programme will deliver access to fibre broadband to around 95% of premises by the end of the current contract.

Funding partners include the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, BT, the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), local authorities and the European Regional Development Fund.