Muir of Ord and Kessock included in £95m broadband upgrade
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Thousands more homes and businesses in the Highlands are set for a major broadband boost as part of a £95 million investment by Openreach.
Inverness, along with Muir of Ord and Kessock, will be upgraded in a £10 million investment following the company’s latest build announcement, with a new, ultrafast, ultra-reliable full fibre broadband network to be built to most premises in these areas.
Island communities on Bute, Arran and Islay are also included, along with Lhanbryde in Moray.
Openreach has now reached more than six million homes and businesses across the UK with ultrafast full fibre, around 480,000 of them in Scotland. Engineers will use Openreach’s existing network of ducts and poles, where possible, to minimise disruption when work starts.
The latest plans follow news earlier this year that around 300,000 Scottish homes and businesses would get access to Openreach’s new network, mostly in rural and harder to serve areas. The company has already announced plans to upgrade more than 30 communities across the Highlands and Islands, including Culloden, Wick, Thurso, Ullapool, Lerwick, Kirkwall and Stornoway.
Robert Thorburn, partnership director for Openreach in Scotland, said: “As Scotland’s biggest fibre builder, we’re delighted to be unveiling another broadband boost for more people in the Highlands and Islands. Good connectivity is vital – whether it’s to work from home, access education and care services, or for gaming and streaming entertainment – and that’s why we’re investing across the UK to upgrade our network to 25 million premises.
“Nobody’s building faster, further or to a higher standard than Openreach, and we’ve already reached six million homes and businesses with ultrafast full fibre technology, including 480,000 in Scotland. It’s proving popular as well, with nearly 23 per cent already choosing to start using it.
“Our engineers and build partners are reaching more communities every week and we’re not just building in cities and urban areas. Many rural and hard to reach communities are already benefitting and we plan to reach many more in the coming months and years.”
Scottish Government economy secretary and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Kate Forbes said: “Digital connectivity is more vital than ever and critical to Scotland’s plans for a strong, green and fair economic recovery.
“Our Reaching 100% (R100) programme – including our investment of £600 million in the R100 contracts – ensures that everyone in Scotland can access superfast broadband. With Openreach’s latest commercial investment of £95 million, this will ensure more than 50 of our communities across Scotland will be able to access even faster full-fibre broadband.”
Across the UK, more than 1.3 million homes and businesses have already ordered a full fibre service from a range of retail service providers using the Openreach network.
Recent research by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) highlighted the clear economic benefits of connecting everyone in Scotland to full fibre. It estimated this would create a £4.5 billion boost to the local economy.
Openreach engineers have been working hard to make the technology available to as many people as possible throughout the UK – at times reaching 47,000 premises a week – and work will continue between now and 2026, with the full list of locations and timescales being updated regularly on the Openreach website.
The company plans to reach a total of 25 million premises by the end of December 2026, including more than six million in the hardest-to-serve parts of the country defined by industry regulator Ofcom.
