Scotland steps up digital connectivity

Scotland's £600 million Reaching 100 per cent (R100) programme is now rolling out connections in some of the country’s most challenging rural locations. 

Originally conceived as a superfast broadband programme, R100 is now providing a gigabit-capable connection – a speed more than 30 times faster than superfast broadband.

Building to some of the hardest-to-reach parts of Scotland, 48,000 connections have so far been delivered through the R100 contracts, with a further 3,800 connections provided through the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme. 

More than one million faster broadband connections have already been delivered to homes and businesses, backed by £1 billion of publicly-driven investment.

The £463 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme launched in 2014 and connected more than 950,600 premises to fibre-based broadband by 2020.

Wellbeing Economy Secretary Mairi McAllan said fast and reliable broadband is "an increasingly vital tool for everything from work and leisure, healthcare and education."

She said: “This is precisely why the Scottish government has prioritised investment in digital connectivity in the 2024-25 Budget. 

“Enabling more than one million connections to faster broadband is a landmark achievement in delivering this vision, and we are fully committed to ensuring as many people as possible can benefit from the advantages of future-proofed digital infrastructure to run businesses and services across the country."