Full fibre broadband rolled out to 80,000 premises in Edinburgh

A third of Edinburgh’s homes and businesses now have access to full fibre broadband, according to Openreach.

With the latest stage of the rollout, 80,000 premises now have access to the gigabit-capable service, which can run 15 times faster than the current UK average.

The Scottish Government had originally planned to extend superfast broadband to every home and business in Scotland by 2021.

But energy minister Paul Wheelhouse then told MSPs that the Scottish Government would aim for full fibre broadband provision instead, meaning the work on the network would run past 2023.

While coronavirus restrictions impacted on the work needed to extend provision of the Fibre-to-the-Premises technology in Edinburgh, the service is now live in Abbeyhill, Corstorphine, Davidson’s Mains, Newington, Fairemilehead, Fountainbridge and Liberton.

Meanwhile, Openreach said most of the build was also complete in Colinton, Granton, Leith and Morningside.

Engineers are returning to work in the city following the easing of lockdown restrictions, with work restarting in areas including Stockbridge and the West End, Craiglockhart and Portobello. Upgrades will start in Maybury, West Edinburgh, and the city centre’s Waverley exchange area later this year.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach’s partnership director for Scotland, said: “We’ve made great progress here in Edinburgh despite the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions, with 80,000 city households and businesses now able to connect to our new full fibre broadband network.

“Connectivity’s been vital for city businesses, home workers and families home educating during the lockdown, with record demand across our network. Now, as the nation faces the economic fallout from the pandemic, it’s going to be even more essential.

“Our rollout in Edinburgh offers these 80,000 homes and businesses access to the fastest, most reliable broadband available anywhere in the UK. That gives the city an economic edge for the recovery – so I’d urge people to check if they can upgrade now.”

He added: “The copper network is coming to the end of its working life and will eventually be switched off. Edinburgh businesses and residents can be early adopters to the new full fibre network, with a choice of providers who use the Openreach network to offer services.

“We’re grateful to The City of Edinburgh Council – without their support we couldn’t have reached today’s landmark in our full fibre rollout.”