NR09-093 March 20, 2009
Scotland among the first to benefit from largest ever UK investment in super-fast broadband
Super-fast speeds available to 34,000 customers in Edinburgh and Glasgow by next year First Minister welcomes benefits for Scotland
Scotland is set to become one of the first locations to benefit from the largest investment in super-fast broadband ever seen in the UK.
BT’s local access division Openreach today announced that it would be deploying fibre to the cabinet (FTTC) technology in Edinburgh and Glasgow early next year as part of the Scottish roll-out of a £1.5 billion project.
Speeds of up to 40Mb/s – and potentially up to 60Mb/s – will be available to more than 34,000 homes and businesses in the two cities and to 500,000 customers in the UK as a whole. These speeds are more than 10 times those experienced now by most UK households. The next set of locations – serving a further million homes and businesses – will be announced in the Autumn.
It is the first major phase of the UK’s biggest ever investment programme in super-fast broadband. BT has pledged to spend £1.5 billion by 2012 to ensure 40 per cent of UK homes and businesses – some 10 million premises – can access fibre-based super-fast broadband. The UK already leads the way in terms of DSL broadband access1 and penetration2 and BT’s plan will ensure the UK climbs the speed tables as well.
Steve Robertson, CEO of Openreach, the division of BT responsible for the delivery of the plans, told delegates at the Scottish Council Development and Industry conference in St Andrews: “Super-fast broadband is essential to Scotland’s future so it is great to announce this initial set of locations. The wider industry will now be able to plan ahead as we will be making our services available on a wholesale basis. This approach will benefit customers as there will undoubtedly be fierce competition for their business.
“Once again, Scotland is at the forefront of one of the most important projects to take place in recent years. It will play a vital role in the UK’s future as a knowledge-based economy”.
First Minister Alex Salmond said: “I welcome the news that Edinburgh and Glasgow will be among the first locations in the UK to have access to BT’s new super-fast broadband.
“Broadband is already available in 99 per cent of Scotland and the Scottish Government is rolling out a £3.3 million project to extend affordable broadband services. This technology has quickly established itself as vital communications tool for businesses and people of all ages. This new service will give customers in two of the country’s biggest cities even greater access to the opportunities and services that the internet offers.”
Openreach will be making fibre based services available to more than 30,000 homes and businesses from exchanges serving the areas around Glasgow University and the arts galleries and in the Hillington Park innovation centre and business park development. In Edinburgh, super-fast broadband will become available to 4,000 customers in Stockbridge and the New Town.
Steve Robertson added: “We have worked very closely with industry, development agencies and local authorities to choose these sites and I would like to thank everyone who has worked with us to make this happen. We are in discussion with others so expect similar announcements in the months to come.”
FTTC technology will offer initial speeds of up to 40Mb/s with the prospect of those rising to up to 60Mb/s. This will give customers enough speed to run multiple bandwidth-hungry applications. For example, some members of a family could be watching different HD movies while others were gaming or working on complex graphics or video projects. Substantially improved “upstream” speeds of up to 10Mb/s – the highest in the UK – will also be offered, allowing customers to post videos, experience HD video conferencing and enjoy interactive HD gaming to the full.
Openreach will deliver FTTC services by installing fibre between local exchanges and the street cabinets that sit between those exchanges and the premises served by them. The fibre will transform the speeds available even though the last link in the chain – from the street cabinet to the home or office – will remain copper. Openreach is aware there are some premises that will not be able to be served by this technology and so they are currently looking at alternative solutions for those.
Dr Lesley Sawers, SCDI chief executive, said: “Increased use of technology is one of the key ways in which we will tackle the productivity gap between Scotland and the strongest economies in the world. Our key industries, from financial services, to renewable energy, the creative industries and life sciences, are ever more data dependent, producing, sending and managing vast quantities of information around the world, and new electronic networks are essential to this development.
“Our competitors are also looking ‘beyond broadband, and next generation networks are going to become a standard part of business infrastructure over the next few years, so we are delighted to see Glasgow and Edinburgh being among the first areas to benefit from BT’s investment, and we will be working with the company to identify how more of the country can benefit in the near future.”
BT’s announcement was also welcomed by the leaders of Edinburgh and Glasgow city councils.
Councillor Steven Purcell, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The announcement that Glasgow is to be included in the first phase of cities for BT’s super-fast broadband service is fantastic news.
“We built a strong business case to bring this to Glasgow and have been rewarded with not just one but two exchanges that will host this service.
“A strong and modern communications infrastructure within cities is a fundamental component to economic success and competitiveness. This is an important investment in Glasgow’s future and we will work closely with the organisations and businesses covered by it to ensure that they take full advantage of this service.”
Councillor Jenny Dawe, Leader of City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The city’s international reputation for research and innovation makes Edinburgh's selection an inspired choice. We'll be working through our Business Gateway service to ensure that local companies in the area are able to take full advantage of this crucial investment, which we see as another vote of confidence in the city's economic resilience. It's also a great opportunity to build on our existing collaboration with Glasgow, and establish Scotland as a trailblazer in exploiting the full potential of super-fast broadband."
1 OECD Broadband Indicator shows DSL coverage in the UK to be ahead of France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the USA
2 OECD Broadband Indicator shows UK broadband penetration to be ahead of France, Germany, USA, Spain and Italy
