Faster Broadband Coming To Another 150,000 Scottish Homes And Businesses

Almost 150,000 more Scottish homes and businesses will have access to faster broadband by the Spring of next year, BT announced today.

Across the country, 31 communities are included in the latest roll-out plans for BT’s next generation copper broadband service. A full list can be found at the end of this release.

The BT investment makes available broadband speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) – more than double the maximum speeds previously available to the majority of UK homes and businesses.

The Scottish communities are among more than 300 UK exchanges included in the latest phase of the programme announced today. More than a million homes and businesses in Scotland have already been upgraded to the new next generation broadband network, which is available on an open, wholesale basis to all internet services providers.

This investment is in addition to the £2.5 billion BT roll-out of super-fast, fibre-based broadband, which is expected to bring even faster speeds to two-thirds of UK premises by the end of 2015.

Brendan Dick, BT Scotland director, said: “This is another important step forward for Scotland. Faster broadband can help businesses become more competitive and greatly improve the online services available to families and homeworkers.

“BT is the only company consistently investing in a mixture of faster broadband technologies both in and outside Scotland’s major urban areas.

“As the roll-out of faster broadband gathers pace, internet users will increasingly be able to choose the service that suits their needs best.”