Stirling to become Scotland’s fourth ‘gigabit city’

Stirling - Image credit: John McPake/Stirling Council

Stirling is to become Scotland’s fourth ‘gigabit city’ after technology infrastructure provider CityFibre confirmed a £1.7m deal with Stirling Council and MLL Telecoms this week.

The scheme will provide gigabit broadband to public buildings and businesses across the city.

Construction will begin in June 2017 on the first phase of the new fibre infrastructure, with the initial development phase expected to take 14 months and deliver 20km of infrastructure from Bannockburn to the Stirling Agricultural Centre. 

The copper-free, ultra-fast network will initially connect over 30 Stirling Council sites including schools, libraries, offices and community facilities.

Stirling Council said it would transform services and boosting productivity across all areas of council operations.

It will also providing a future-proof platform for further digital developments such as connecting mobile masts and delivering safer city infrastructure, for example, smart CCTV and street-lighting, the council said.

Over time the network will be extended to offer the majority of Stirling’s 3,000 businesses access to gigabit speed services as well.

Commenting on the announcement, Stirling Council leader Johanna Boyd said: “This is excellent news for those who live, work and study here.

“This leap forward for our digital connectivity will make our existing businesses more competitive, encourage new businesses to the city centre, and enable us to deliver education and skills programmes, which not only ensure our students are the most digitally skilled in Scotland, but also provide people of all circumstances and skill levels with opportunities for employment. 

“It will also allow those accessing council services to do so faster.”

She added: “We’ve been clear that we want Stirling to be one of the most digitally connected cities in Europe, and this project is an essential step in helping us realise that ambition.” 

CityFibre is currently working on gigabit infrastructure in 40 other cities across the UK, including work already underway in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow.