News
The UK government has revealed that Scotland will receive a £450 million share of the £5 billion Project Gigabit rollout scheme
Project Gigabit is the UK government’s commitment to deliver fast and reliable broadband to the entire UK. It targets homes and businesses that are not included in broadband suppliers’ plans, reaching parts of the UK that might otherwise miss out on getting the digital connectivity they need. The scheme’s primary goal is to level up the most rural areas in the country, helping to bridge the digital divide.
More specifically, the project aims deliver download speeds of at least 1Gbps and upload speeds of at least 200Mbps to 85% or more of UK premises by the end of 2025 and aiming for nationwide (99%) coverage by 2030.
Currently, 74% of premises in Scotland can already access a gigabit-capable broadband network, but this still leaves roughly half a million homes waiting for a broadband upgrade.
The Scottish government is also investing £600 million in its Reaching 100% Programme (R100), which itself has been supported by £49.5 million of Project Gigabit funding. The scheme aims to connect the most rural parts of the country. To date, the project has provided 42,000 premises with fibre-to-the-premise coverage, and aims for another 114,000 premises by 2028
“While R100 is administered by the Scottish Government, Project Gigabit, although funded from the UK Government, is delivered through the Scottish Government,” said Sir John Whittingdale, the UK Minister for Digital Infrastructure in a parliamentary debate yesterday.
“It has taken longer than we would have liked. However, I am in touch with my opposite number in the Scottish Government and can tell the House that, of the £5 billion that the Government are putting into Project Gigabit, an estimated £450 million is to go to the Scottish Government, and we currently have a market engagement exercise under way.”
Scotland has been fighting to make sure it received its fair share of Project Gigabit funding for some time, with Scottish Innovation Minister Richard Lochhead calling on the UK government to deliver “sufficient levels of funding” to Scotland earlier this year.
In related news, The Building Digital UK (BDUK) agency has released their end of year 2023 update on the progress of Project Gigabit. This year, BDUK has surpassed its target by passing 162,600 rural homes and businesses with gigabit-capable broadband. The running total of premises passed in the UK now stands at 900,000. Of this total, 146,000 (90%) of the premises passed in 2022 to 2023 were in areas classified as “rural”. There have been 16 contracts signed so far, representing around £666 million in public investment and covering over 400,000 premises this year.
In total, 39 Project Gigabit contracts have been signed since the project’s launch.
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