NORTH East MPs Andrew Bowie and David Duguid met Openreach engineers this week to check on the latest rollout of ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband in the region.
They were given a tour of the work in Stonehaven and Banff, along with an update on the Aberdeenshire build. It has now reached more than 23,000 properties, meaning full fibre is available to around one in five homes and businesses. Around one in three of those passed by the new gigabit network has already upgraded.
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In Stonehaven, nearly half of local business and households can now connect to the new network, while in Banff around a third now have access. Take-up of the new services available is above average, topping 40 per cent in the Banff and Buchan constituency and 38 per cent in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine.
Locations like Peterhead, Ellon and Inverurie are also benefitting from full fibre technology, with work continuing to reach thousands more homes and businesses. Engineers expect to start work in Cruden Bay next. The majority of premises in 30 Aberdeenshire towns and villages will be upgraded under Openreach’s plan to reach 25m premises by 2026, alongside its city build in Aberdeen.
Openreach operates Scotland’s largest broadband network, used by customers of companies like BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Vodafone and Zen. Around 85 per cent of households in Aberdeenshire can access a superfast service at 30Mbps or more through its network.
Andrew Bowie MP said: “I’m pleased to see the progress being made by Openreach and hear about their wider plans to deliver full fibre to our rural towns. I’ve been campaigning for years for local people to be able to reap the full benefits of better broadband, and to make sure our harder-to-reach communities are connected. There is still a long way to go but if you are among the one in five now able to upgrade, you may be pleasantly surprised by the benefits of a gigabit-capable internet connection.”
David Duguid MP said: “Rural connectivity remains a top concern for my constituents. While I am pleased to see Openreach investing in Aberdeenshire towns, I will continue to push hard for faster broadband rollout for those living in more rural locations. I welcomed the opportunity to discuss the challenges Openreach faces, particularly with regard to red tape that holds up the build. I will continue to work with Openreach and all levels of Government to ensure more of my constituents receive decent broadband – particularly in rural areas.”
Full fibre broadband offers download speeds of one gigabit per second (1Gbps), which means it’s up to 10 times faster than the average home broadband connection, bringing faster game downloads, better quality video calls and higher resolution movie streaming.
It’s also less affected by peak time congestion which means people can use multiple devices simultaneously, even during peak times in the evening, without the connection slowing down. That means more people can get online at the same time without experiencing stuttering, buffering or dropouts.
The visit was hosted by Fraser Rowberry, Director of Fibre Operations in Scotland.
Fraser Rowberry said: “We welcomed the opportunity to show our latest progress and share the challenges and realities of delivering this life-changing digital infrastructure. We’re very excited about what full fibre can do for Aberdeenshire. Research shows rolling it out can supercharge productivity and create new employment opportunities.”
“Local people in many Aberdeenshire communities may spot an increase in Openreach activity as we continue work on the ground. We try hard to keep any disruption to a minimum by reusing our existing network where possible, but it’s not always straightforward.”
“Occasionally we need to put up new poles or carry out roadworks safely, but the resulting benefits our network brings will be huge, varied and long-term across the community.”
Openreach’s £15 billion fibre investment aims to reach 25 million premises by December 2026, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the country defined by industry regulator Ofcom. More than 7.2 million homes and business can now order a service over the new network, including 620,000 across Scotland so far.
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) estimates that connecting everyone in Scotland to full fibre would create a £4.5 billion boost to the economy. You can find out more about the Full Fibre build programme, latest availability and local plans here.
