Rolling out Superfast Broadband across D&G

Members of this Council’s Economy and Resources Committee (15 June) will receive a report on the progress of Superfast Broadband provision across our region.

In November 2013, Dumfries and Galloway council agreed “that the Council enter into a Memorandum of Agreement with the Scottish Government to deliver the Step Change 2015 programme, based on the Council's capital investment of £12.6m.” Our Council agreed £12.6m capital funding to deliver Superfast Broadband coverage above the baseline 75% premises coverage which the Scottish Government was to provide. Our initial planning assumption was that this could provide 85% coverage of upgraded infrastructure across our region. Following negotiations, it was confirmed, that the £12.6m investment from our Council should increase the overall coverage to approximately 95% of D&G premises.

By March 2018, including the anticipated commercial fibre broadband coverage, 92% of premises in our region were connected to fibre broadband infrastructure: approximately 56,027 premises. As a result, 84% of premises had access to speeds of 24Mbps and above in Dumfries and Galloway. To date, 97% of premises in our region are connected to fibre broadband infrastructure with 88% of premises with access to speeds of greater than 24Mbps.

Also included in the report is the progress of the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) which has been developed by the Scottish Government to ensure that every household and business in Scotland can access an affordable superfast broadband service and provides two distinct levels of subsidy:

• Main Voucher: There will be some properties that will not receive superfast connections through either the R100 contracts or commercial coverage. These properties will be eligible for a voucher – worth up to £5,000 – that will help owners and/or tenants secure a superfast connection.

• Interim Voucher: The R100 contracts will likely deliver the majority of connections after 31 December 2021. For those properties, the SBVS will provide interim vouchers – worth up to £400 (£650 for particularly difficult-to-reach properties) to ensure they can access a superfast broadband service in the meantime.

Chair of Economy and resources, Rob Davidson said: “The progress on these projects has been fantastic. In total £36m, including our council’s additional contribution of £12.6m, was invested across our region through the DSSB programme and this has enabled 58,849 premises to be connected to upgraded infrastructure. This is a hugely important number as superfast broadband speeds are now part of our daily lives, particularly during the COVID pandemic when more of us are learning and working from home.”

Vice Chair, Archie Dryburgh said: “Superfast Broadband is now an essential requirement for citizens, businesses and schools. In April 2020 our council successfully secured £1.36M under the UK Government’s £200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity (RGC) programme to upgrade 35 rural primary schools across our region to access a new “gigabit-capable” network connection. This will ensure that our schools have the capability to deliver essential online learning to all our children and provide the skills they need for the future.”