{"id":26763,"date":"2025-06-30T09:28:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26763\/"},"modified":"2025-06-30T09:28:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T09:28:11","slug":"scots-gov-exceeded-broadband-connection-target-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/26763\/","title":{"rendered":"Scots gov exceeded broadband connection target last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Scottish Government has announced that it has surpassed its commitment to deliver gigabit-capable broadband connections<\/a> to 20,000 Scots homes and businesses last year.<\/p>\n

In 2024-2025, a record 27,000 premises were equipped with faster broadband through the government\u2019s Reaching 100% (R100) programme, exceeding a Programme for Government commitment by more than a third.<\/p>\n

R100 is a \u00a3600+ million scheme for improving digital<\/a> connectivity across Scotland, connecting around 113,000 properties in the north, south, and Central Belt. It\u2019s cited as one of the most ambitious infrastructure programmes in Europe.<\/p>\n

\"Scot-Secure<\/a><\/p>\n

The R100 contracts, being delivered by Openreach<\/a>, have now enabled more than 80,000 faster broadband connections across the country thus far, with 80% of all R100 contract build to take place in rural areas.<\/p>\n

Originally conceived as a superfast broadband programme, R100 now provides a gigabit-capable, Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connection\u2014a speed more than 30 times faster than superfast broadband\u2014in around 99% of cases.<\/p>\n

Connections have been made across the country, from Killantringan Lighthouse in Dumfries and Galloway, to Stornoway in the Wester Isles and Baltasound on Shetland.<\/p>\n

Business minister Richard Lochhead recently visited Loch Katrine in the Trossachs to hear how access to faster broadband speeds is helping transform opportunities for local business.<\/p>\n

\u201cFast, reliable broadband is a fundamental building block for economic growth,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Scottish Government\u2019s R100 programme is one of the most ambitious and complex digital infrastructure programmes in Europe, rolling out connections in some of the most challenging locations in the country to help businesses and communities prosper.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite telecommunications being reserved to the UK Government, our commitment to the R100 programme illustrates this government\u2019s commitment to delivering the digital connectivity people and businesses need to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cExceeding our 2024-25 delivery target was helped by record Scottish Government funding and an ongoing partnership with Openreach maximising the opportunities to deliver fast broadband to even more homes and businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recommended reading<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Fraser, the CEO and lead trustee of the Steamship Sir Walter Scott Trust at Loch Katrine, also said: \u201cThe impact of the introduction of fibre cable connections at Loch Katrine\u202fhas been transformative for many aspects of our core\u202fbusiness and our tenants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith an increasing trend to digital bookings for cruises, eco lodges,\u202fcycle hire and meals out, having high speed digital connections is critical to the success of our business and other businesses on the lochside.<\/p>\n

\u201cPreviously our digital speeds were very poor leading to customer dissatisfaction, loss of bookings and\u202fcustomer complaints, particularly from guests staying overnight in our eco lodges or in campervans in our car parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the higher speeds now available there has been a marked improvement in digital services with\u202fincreased customer satisfaction levels.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Scottish Government has announced that it has surpassed its commitment to deliver gigabit-capable broadband connections to 20,000…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":26764,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[716,19660,5173,712,23351,23352,6313,23353,158,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-26763","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-internet","8":"tag-broadband","9":"tag-connectivity","10":"tag-infrastructure","11":"tag-internet","12":"tag-r100","13":"tag-reaching-100","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-scottish-government","16":"tag-technology","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114771611262667312","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26763"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26763\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}