Moray sees highest percentage swing in fibre broadband coverage in Scotland

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Moray has seen the largest percentage shift in fibre broadband coverage of any Scottish local authority area in the past three years.

Access to fibre optic broadband has reached 90 per cent of homes and businesses in Moray, according to data from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

The first fibre broadband was launched by BT in Elgin in November 2013.

It was followed by the start of the £146m Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project, which announced the first publicly funded fibre cabinet in Buckie in February 2014.

Now nearly 40,000 Moray homes and businesses are part of the network, with around 29,000 linked by the Scottish Government-funded project and 10,500 by the commercial BT rollout.

Latest figures from the thinkbroadband website suggest that just under 80 per cent of Moray premises can access superfast broadband of more than 24 Mbps.

Moray MP Angus Robertson, said: “Moray’s towns and villages are better connected than ever before.

“As well as the new fibre broadband available from cabinets, the network also opens up more opportunities.

“Companies working here, or looking to locate here, can access high speed business connections more easily, and mobile operators working on improving our 4G connectivity have easier access to backhaul.

“There have been huge improvement but there remains more to do with the Scottish Government committed to 100 per cent broadband coverage.

“I will continue to work to ensure we get the most from this new network, particularly looking at how we reach further and go faster in the coming years.”