High-speed fibre broadband rollout in Rothesay

High-speed fibre broadband has been made available to thousands of homes and businesses in and around one of Scotland’s most renowned seaside towns.

More than 2,700 homes and businesses in Rothesay, as well as neighbouring village Ardbeg, on the Isle of Bute can now order fibre-based broadband through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project.

The move is the first step in a process of further rollout with more coverage in the town and for additional villages across the island set to follow.

When connected, premises could have direct access to download speeds of up to 80 Mbps. 

Deputy First Minister, John Swinney, said: “We are changing the shape of access to better broadband for our rural and island communities.

“The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project is making high speed services available to thousands of people every week in places which would not have been reached through the market.

“It’s fantastic to see the first homes and businesses now able to order in Rothesay. It’s another step in building the infrastructure which will see us fulfil the Scottish Government’s commitment to deliver world class connectivity in Scotland by 2020.”

The access is being provided through seven green fibre cabinets - six in Rothesay and one in Ardbeg - which have been built next to existing telecoms cabinets.

Additional rollout is planned during 2015 for the north of Bute, including at Craigmore where first services will be available soon. It will continue into 2016 at Kilchattan Bay.

The £146m project is being led in the region by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), with work on the ground being carried out by Openreach, the local network division of private sector partner BT.

Funding is coming from the Scottish Government and the UK Government as well as HIE and BT.

BT Scotland director Brendan Dick said: “While the steamships brought economic prosperity to places like Bute, fibre broadband will equally bring another revolution in working life to Argyll and Bute, with access to the latest technologies such as video conferencing, faster file sharing and cloud-based services.

“Our engineers will continue to use the latest technologies to spread the benefits of fibre broadband across Scotland.”

The Digital Scotland rollout consists of two projects - one covering the Highlands and Islands area and the other covering the rest of Scotland.