Broadband roll-out gives 11,000 homes & businesses across Falkirk superfast connection

More than 11,600 households and businesses across Falkirk were reached by the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, final programme data released today revealed.
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They were among over 950,600 homes and businesses across Scotland covered by the programme since it began in 2014.

Engineers from Openreach laid more than 194km of cable across the capital during the build, connecting communities including Airth and Denny.

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Across Scotland more than 16,730km of new cable was laid – enough to stretch past Brisbane in Australia.

More than 11,600 households and businesses across Falkirk were reached by the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (Pic: Andy Forman)More than 11,600 households and businesses across Falkirk were reached by the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (Pic: Andy Forman)
More than 11,600 households and businesses across Falkirk were reached by the £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (Pic: Andy Forman)

The build included 400km of sub-sea cable to connect Scottish islands and 5,078 new fibre street cabinets, offering broadband services at speeds up to 80Mbps1.

Superfast broadband has made web browsing, working online, gaming and streaming much quicker and smoother.

Downloading films, music and other large files and forms is also faster. And with so many of us all working from home - several people can use the connection at the same time with ease. Upload speeds are also significantly higher, so it’s great for people who need to send large files from home or work.

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Over 65.9% of those reached by the DSSB rollout across Falkirk have now upgraded and are enjoying faster fibre broadband.

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Robert Thorburn, partnership director for Openreach in Scotland, said: “Everyone at Openreach is thrilled to see the transformative effect of better broadband across Falkirk.”

Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, Leader of Falkirk Council welcomed the benefits the programme has brought.

She said: It has helped connect many of our communities including Slamannan, Bonnybridge and Polmont.

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“It means communities like Grangemouth and Wallacestone are able to receive fibre-based broadband, whether that’s to Skype loved ones, learn online or work from home. Without the DSSB programme, they would have suffered slow speeds and poor connections.”Cllr Meiklejohn added: “COVID has impacted on all of us and the past year has been incredibly difficult for all communities.

“ I’m in no doubt that without the DSSB improvements to our rural broadband infrastructure life would have been so much harder for most of our residents.

“The difference it has made here is significant and quite phenomenal – it’s been central to meeting this exceptional national challenge.”

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