This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Broadband roll out continues
21/12/2006
A further £5 million is to be made available to extend the roll-out of broadband services to make access in Scotland as widespread as possible, it was announced today.
The additional funding follows delivery to every Scottish community last year through the largest broadband award of its kind in the UK with BT.
Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen said:
"From the outset we have said that broadband would become a vital communications tool in the modern era.
"Last year we announced that our commitment to roll out broadband to every community of the country by the end of 2005 had been reached. Today's Broadband Reach Report shows that we are well ahead of most other countries on coverage.
"That target was achieved on time and was also approximately £1.5 million within budget and so we will now work within our BT contract to provide access to remaining clusters, where feasible. The first of these clusters will be announced by the end of March 2007.
"However, I want to go beyond that. I am therefore announcing today an additional £3.5 million for further activity, which will deliver broadband to many more without coverage. This gives a total further spend of £5m. All of this will ensure yet more households and businesses in Scotland can benefit from a high-speed internet connection.
"Today's research both demonstrates a huge achievement and gives us important information as we take forward our objective of enabling even more people in Scotland to gain the benefits of broadband."
Background:
The Broadband Reach report by Masons consultants looked at the various technical factors why individuals still could not access broadband from their telephone exchange. It examined the extent of the issue as well as the viability of potential technical solutions.
The Executive's previous project with BT enabled 378 non-commercial exchanges for broadband over the latter half of 2005. The public sector investment, including £5M European Regional Development Funding, totalled £16.5 million. It was delivered on time and achieves the Executive's objective of delivering access to every community as defined by census output area. Approximately £1.5 million of this funding is now available to deliver broadband access solutions. The first of the clusters to be assisted will be announced by the end of March.
Furthermore, an extra £3.5 million is being provided to facilitate additional broadband solutions next financial year. Delivery options for this are currently being developed and more details will be announced early in the new year. Implementation of solutions will follow during 2007/08.