Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Bowdon]

https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/08/highlands-villages-help-build-new-1gbps-fttp-broadband-network.html

A mix of community digging, public subsidy and private investment is set to be used to help build Openreach’s (BT) Gigabit capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) “ultrafast broadband” ISP network to reach 140 homes, which exist across several of the most remote rural Highlands communities in Ross-shire (Scotland).

The communities, many of which would currently struggle to receive a fixed line broadband speed of much above 0.5Mbps (Megabits per second), are all sparsely scattered across 26 miles of rugged terrain and include Achnasheen, Achanalt, Lochluichart, Corriemoillie, Little Garve, Gorstan, Grudie, Inchbae and Aultguish.

Funding for the work is set to come from a mix of sources including the Lochluichart Community Trust (i.e. an investment of benefits collected via the local wind farm), the UK Government’s Better Broadband Subsidy Scheme (connection vouchers) and the £428m Digital Scotland (DSSB) project with Openreach.

Roughly a third of the deployment (more than 35% of the properties) will also involve one of Openreach’s co-funded Community Fibre Partnerships, with local residents agreeing to organise the digging for the final few metres of cable from the fibre ‘spine’.

    Steve Jones, Community Spokesman, said:

    “It’s a tremendously exciting time. Like many residents I’ve only been getting very slow speeds capped at 0.5Mbps, making even the most basic of online activities difficult and frustrating, so looking forward to ultrafast speeds is fantastic.

    Fast, reliable broadband will bring huge potential to regenerate our scattered communities. It’s a prerequisite for attracting families and businesses to the area, where the population has fallen in recent years. People now expect good internet as a basic. In essence, it will help us to build a closer and more integrated community.

    As the online world continues to grow, the Garve and District community won’t be left behind – in fact, with ultrafast broadband on our doorstep, we’ll be leaping way ahead!”

    Robert Thorburn, Openreach Partnership Director for Scotland, said:

    “The challenges facing the Garve and District communities were phenomenal and they’ve worked incredibly hard to develop a unique solution.

    With a collaborative, multi-partner approach and a fierce will among the community to dig in and deliver, this is a truly brilliant – and unique – example of what can be achieved.

    A huge amount of civil work is under way. We’re making good progress and we’re excited to announce today that the very first residents in Achnasheen can now place their orders with their chosen service provider. We expect to complete work by the end of this year.”

    Stuart Robertson, Director of Digital at HIE, said:

    “This is an interesting example demonstrating how the expanding fibre network being delivered through the Digital Scotland project in rural areas can be built upon to reach even further. By working together, the Achnasheen community and the Community Fibre Partnership are extending the coverage and benefits of fibre broadband to some of the area’s remotest premises.”