International Circuit
Openreach claims its full fibre network covers half of Scotland
The Openreach full-fibre roll-out in Scotland consists of 3 main strands – the obvious commercial roll-out in the dense urban central belt, rural roll-out in the smaller towns and then the R100 contracts with the Scottish Government.
Openreach announced earlier this week that it had built its full fibre network to some 1.45 million homes and businesses across Scotland and that this means half of Scotland can get full fibre from the retailers who use the Openreach network.
1.45 million premises is 49.7% of Scotland according to our premises database for Scotland, which is close enough to say we agree on that figure. In terms of the raw figures as of 9am Friday 24th January our Openreach FTTP footprint in Scotland is 1,404,561 premises, and back on 16th January it was 1,377,304 premises. The jump of 27,000 premises in just over a week represents us going through the roll-out areas in Scotland and confirming that Openreach full fibre is available and while there is one area of Scotland left to look at we only expect an additional few thousand before starting our sweep again for Scotland in a few weeks. We believe that we will hit a figure of 1.45 million in around 6 weeks time, based on the longer term growth rate we’ve seen in the Scottish footprint. We could hit 1.45 million sooner but that would mean NOT looking in other parts of the UK and we try to spread our time evenly across the UK in terms of geography and different providers networks.
Fast, reliable connectivity is a game-changer in every part of Scotland. It fuels economic growth and can support the redistribution of economic activity to less populated areas.
This is quite simply one of the most significant infrastructure upgrades Scotland will see this century. We’re paving the way to future job creation, remote work, digital learning, and innovative healthcare access.
We’re proud of the progress our engineers have made – and there’s lots more still to come.
Katie Milligan, Openreach Chief Commercial Officer and Chair of its Scotland Board
This is a significant milestone in the mission to deliver faster, more reliable broadband to homes and businesses across Scotland.
In today’s world, fast, reliable broadband isn’t just a convenience – it’s a necessity for many individuals and businesses. That’s why we’re committed to extending coverage through public sector investment while continuing to encourage commercial build.
We will continue to work with Openreach to deliver access to faster broadband where it is needed most – in rural and island communities – through the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% programme, which has benefitted from more than £600 million of Scottish Government investment.
Scottish Government’s Minister for Business Richard Lochhead
Some of the newest areas to be connected under the Reach 100% contract are parts of Tiree, Iona and Mull. Tiree and Iona are so new that they will appear on our checker Friday night and the maps on Saturday, some are in areas where VDSL2 was available and hopefully the longer distance hence slower properties will see service rolled out to them soon. ThinkBroadband