More than 11,000 homes and businesses across Perth and Kinross will finally join the nation’s broadband revolution by early 2015.
Alyth, Auchterarder, Braco, Comrie, Coupar Angus, Crieff, Fossoway, Kinross, Meigle and Scotlandwell have been announced as the latest to benefit from the next generation roll-out under the £410 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.
All of the locations in Perth and Kinross will receive the high-speed technology for the first time, with promises of speeds of up to 80Mbps.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This marks an important milestone for the people and businesses of Perth and Kinross, as well as for the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband partnership.
“This programme will lay the foundations of a world class digital Scotland by extending fibre broadband access to parts of Scotland that wouldn’t otherwise be served commercially.
“The scale of the challenge of delivering fibre broadband into rural Scotland outstrips any other part of the UK and will generate significant economic benefits, including new jobs and increased productivity.
“This is an important step towards ensuring that Scotland has world-class digital connectivity by 2020 and will be a key factor in ensuring Scotland’s long-term economic prosperity.”
Many rural communities are struggling with almost unusable internet services.
Perth and Kinross Council’s enterprise and infrastructure convener, John Kellas, said: “So much of our daily life relies on the internet these days and it is likely that our digital footprint is only going to continue to grow in the future. To accommodate this, it’s important that the service received by our residents and businesses is as efficient as possible, so that Perth and Kinross isn’t left behind the rest of the country.
“This superfast broadband programme is an ambitious programme that will bring a great many benefits to Scotland and I am thrilled that Perth and Kinross is one of the first areas to benefit.” The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband initiative is being delivered by BT, which is investing £126m in the programme.
Communications Minister Ed Vaizey said: “This fantastic news marks the next stage of a remarkable transformation of broadband in Perth and Kinross, which will see around 95% of premises connected to fibre broadband infrastructure by 2017/18.
“We understand how important access to superfast broadband is, which is why the UK Government is investing more than £100m in broadband for Scotland.
“The widespread access to superfast broadband that our roll-out will deliver will provide a tremendous boost to the Scottish economy.”
For some, the broadband revolution is not arriving fast enough, while the quoted speeds will not be available to all and some areas will miss out entirely.
As a result, the Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership announced last month that it is taking matters into its own hands and endeavouring to provide an improved service.
In the coming months it will launch a major pilot project aimed at providing speedy broadband services to communities at Amulree, Trochry and Struan.
The intention is to ensure that no one in Highland Perthshire is left behind.