Collette Stevenson got up to speed with broadband at a drop-in session at the Scottish Parliament.
The East Kilbride MSP met engineers and apprentices from Openreach to discuss the roll out of full-fibre broadband and the economic benefits fast, reliable connectivity is bringing to Scotland during a session at Holyrood.
There the MSP was updated on work being done to upgrade the country’s broadband network - with a major upgrade about to start in East Kilbride - and also met apprentices Hayley Goldthorpe and Jack Cotton to hear first-hand about their experiences.
Openreach recently announced it will create and fill around 500 more Scottish jobs during 2020 - including around 390 apprenticeships – as it continues to invest billions of pounds into its UK broadband network, people and training.
Ms Stevenson told Lanarkshire Live : "Reliable connectivity is a hugely important feature of life in modern Scotland and a necessity for people living and working in East Kilbride.
"Openreach engineers and apprentices are working tirelessly to roll out full fibre broadband to more communities each week.
“The event in parliament was a great opportunity to quiz management about the priorities ahead and the challenges in more complex areas of build – and discuss how policy changes could help.
"It was great to learn more about opportunities that can be unlocked, especially for remote and rural communities, by ultra-reliable full fibre broadband.”
At the beginning of the year Openreach announced that more than half a million Scottish homes and businesses can connect to its new gigabit-capable, full fibre network.
Sixteen towns and villages across South Lanarkshire are included in its plans to reach 25m premises with the technology by the end of 2026.
They include East Kilbride, where 4700 homes and businesses can already connect and work is about to start on a major upgrade, as well as places like Lanark, Carstairs, Rutherglen and Lesmahagow.
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