The Auditor General for Scotland has given an update on the progress of the Scottish Government's R100 (Reaching 100%) superfast broadband programme.
The report stated that after a slow start, by 31 December 2021, around 107,000 premises remain to be connected through the contracts, out of the around 112,000 premises which are expected to be connected.
It noted that many of these are in the hardest to reach locations, with the majority in the North. "Connecting these remaining premises will be challenging and expensive".
Average speeds have increased significantly since 2018 through commercial and public sector investment, with the superfast broadband programme (DSSB) reaching around 951,000 premises, at a total public sector investment currently estimated to be £311m.
However, due to delays in finalising the R100 intervention area and awarding the North, South and Central contracts to BT, work will now continue until 2027 in some areas.
There was also a legal challenge to the North contract. This was resolved, but it meant that the contract was not awarded until December 2020. The number of premises covered by that contract had to be reassessed because commercial coverage had extended in the intervening period – and was not finalised until August 2021.
Stephen Boyle, auditor general for Scotland, said: "The pandemic has shown that a fast and reliable broadband connection is an essential utility – but there is still work to do to connect or upgrade around 100,000 homes and businesses as part of the Scottish Government's plans.
"Infrastructure work, particularly in the Highlands and Islands will continue for a number of years," he continued, adding: "These are properties in the hardest to reach locations with difficult terrain, making it a huge challenge for government and its partners."
Liberal Democrat culture, media and sport spokesperson and Far North MP Jamie Stone said: "My constituents are fed up with being lumbered with stone age broadband connections.
"The SNP promised to deliver access to high-speed broadband to every household and business in Scotland by 2021 – that promise was junked at the first opportunity."
Scottish Labour rural spokesperson Colin Smyth added: "The last two years have shown that reliable connectivity is a necessity, not a luxury – but for Scotland’s forgotten rural communities it’s been a case of super slow, not superfast broadband roll-out.
"The SNP-Green government must pull out every stop to get these high-speed connections in place for everyone as quickly as possible."
The Scottish Government launched the Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) in September 2020, enabling people who would not have access to superfast broadband by the end of 2021, or where there was no planned coverage, to apply for a voucher to get connected by another supplier.
In 2018, Audit Scotland reported that the Scottish Government had met its target of providing access to fibre broadband to 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017. At that point, its DSSB programme had connected 890,000 premises.
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