A Perthshire politician has been shadowing Openreach engineers to see the progress of high-speed broadband being introduced throughout the region.
During the field visit, deputy first minister and Perthshire North MSP John Swinney visited a new ‘full-fibre’ network in Innerleithen Way in Perth, where he watched a step-by-step demo of how it’s installed.
The future-proof services are capable of carrying speeds up to 1Gbps - 21 times faster than the UK’s current average.
As well as its commercial investment in upgrades, Openreach has been working closely with the Scottish and UK governments, local authorities and other partners since 2013 to bring fibre-based broadband to communities which were not included in any upgrade plans by private companies.
The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband partnership rollout has brought fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) broadband to dozens of Perth and Kinross communities and includes small deployments of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) in areas where it is the best technical solution.
According to the independent website Think Broadband, 85 per cent of premises in Perth and Kinross are now able to connect to broadband at a speed of 30Mbps and above.
Swinney said: “Good connectivity is absolutely vital for a strong local economy, so it’s been useful to see the progress that’s been made and hear about the next stage of upgrades.
“The Scottish Government has been working with Openreach over the last several years to improve broadband and without the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband partnership, Perth and Kinross would have had only around 40 per cent coverage from the private sector.
“There is more work to do, and I’m determined to make sure that progress continues at pace.
“We’re at the start of a move to a full-fibre future as the old copper telecoms network gradually comes to the end of its working life.
“It was useful to see how engineers go about installing this new technology where the fibre runs directly to people’s homes.
“While the process is expected to take many years, it’s great to know that some local residents can already enjoy full-fibre broadband capabilities which are among the best anywhere in the UK.”
Openreach is also working with local housebuilders to install full-fibre technology into housing developments in places like Blairgowrie, Rattray, Kenmore, Aberfeldy and Auchterarder as well as Perth.
The visit was hosted by Brendan Dick, Openreach board chair in Scotland, who said: “We know good, reliable broadband is really important to local people, and we have made great progress.
“However, we also appreciate that there’s more work to be done.
“John Swinney shares our ambition to make sure everybody in Scotland has access to a quality broadband service.”
