Campaign marks increased fibre broadband availability in Falkirk district

A campaign has been launched to promote increased fibre broadband availability across the Falkirk district.

The Up Your Street initiative recently saw Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband team members tour streets in Larbert and Polmont.

It comes as the project celebrates enabling more than 10,500 homes and businesses in the region to upgrade to faster fibre broadband through a £428 million rollout.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Areas across Falkirk to benefit from the Digital Scotland rollout, led by the Scottish Government, include Airth, Castlecary, Allandale and Larbert.

Those living in the area who do not yet have access to the speedier services have been urged to sign up with an internet provider as the upgrades are not automatic.

Nationwide, more than 890,000 premises have been connected to the new network as a result of the programme.

Nearly 4500 new fibre street cabinets are now live and more than 11,000km of cable has been laid by engineers from Openreach, Scotland’s digital network business.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps1.

Councillor Cecil Meiklejohn, leader of Falkirk Council, said: “High-speed broadband is transforming our local communities for residents and businesses alike.

“The ongoing roll-out across the Falkirk area means that more people than ever can sign up to a provider that can offer a far better service than was available previously.”

Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “Once again it is very positive news knowing that more premises than ever before now have fibre broadband available to them.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“I would encourage more people to check whether they are eligible to upgrade on the DSSB website and contact a service provider of their choice to start receiving faster broadband.

“I am not complacent. I am aware that those who do not have access are at a disadvantage and our job is not done until everyone is connected. We are now focusing on the next steps to achieve 100 per cent coverage by 2021.”

Robert Thorburn, fibre broadband director for Openreach in Scotland, added: “As the rollout nears its end stages, we’re really digging in to some harder-to-reach communities and places where the engineering challenges are more significant.

“Many of these latest lines have been converted from a format once thought incompatible with high-speed fibre broadband, and we’re increasingly using ultrafast fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) to deliver the network directly into some individual dwellings.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It’s really a privilege for all of us at Openreach to be able to play such an important part in the life of communities the length and breadth of Scotland. We know there’s always more to do and we are up for the challenge.”