Many constituents have copied me into emails sent to the CEO of Ofcom regarding Ofcom’s consultation on the future of internet in the UK.
Responsibility of broadband delivery is devolved to the Scottish Government and as such, does not fall under the remit of my office. However, the issue is widespread and has been the subject of concern for many constituents, so I feel it is pertinent I do what I can to hold Openreach to account, and to encourage the development of a better broadband service within the UK.
On 22 October 2015 I asked the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Question number 13006) what the planned date is for the roll-out of fibre broadband in (a) the Chryston area and (b) the constituency of Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill.
Mr Edward Vaizey MP, the then Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy stated in response that UK Government has allocated £122 million for two Scottish Superfast Broadband projects - the Highlands and Islands project and the Digital Scotland project, which covers the rest of Scotland. He stated that following the completion of the current contracted projects, expected by December 2017, superfast broadband coverage will be around 93% within the Digital Scotland project area. This answer was received on 29 Oct 2015.
On 19th January 2016 I co-signed a letter to The Telegraph alongside members of The British Infrastructure Group who released a detailed report on broadband speeds, the role of BT Openreach and what can be done to improve things. This 'Broadbad' report revealed that Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill have an above average number of connections with speeds slower than 10Mb/s.
The SNP Scottish Government are committed to ensuring that 100% of home and business premises in Scotland have access to superfast broadband by 2021. The Scottish Government are also investing in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme to extend superfast broadband into areas which are not currently reached by the existing market – particularly rural and remote parts of the country. The £410m project has already reached 85% of premises in Scotland, in the last three months alone, broadband has been extended to 35,000 premises.
In 2016 people rightly expect access to high-speed internet connections.
Whether at home or at work, fast broadband should be a reality in all our communities. Sadly, this is not yet the case. As mentioned above, the matter is devolved therefore my involvement is somewhat limited however, I plan to continue supporting campaigns with aims to tackle the problem and gain answers where possible.
