This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Broadband for the Cairngorms
09/08/2005
People living and working in the Cairngorms will benefit
from broadband access thanks to a new initiative which is
part-funded by the Executive.
Telecommunications Minister Tavish Scott today visited a
BT telephone exchange near Aviemore, which is in the first
batch of 378 to be funded from the Broadband for Scotland's
rural and remote areas project.
The £30 million project is being funded by the
government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish
Enterprise, the European Regional Development Fund, along
with BT.
Mr Scott said:
"The Scottish Executive is committed to providing every
community access to affordable broadband services by the
end of 2005.
"Broadband is one of the most important technological
developments of our time. While 95 per cent of households
and businesses already have access to it, we need to ensure
that homes and businesses in rural areas, such as the
Cairngorms, benefit as well.
"Businesses can use these services to help increase
their productivity and efficiency and grow the local
economy.
"This initiative will mean that every community the
length and breadth of Scotland will have access to
broadband by the end of this year. This is another
significant step on the road to making Scotland one of the
best connected nations in the world."
Alison Ritchie, Chief Broadband Officer, BT said:
"The Broadband for Scotland's Rural and Remote Areas
project is a significant undertaking and BT is excited and
proud to have been selected as the Scottish Executive's
supplier. The exchanges being enabled by this project
account for one third of BT's Scottish exchanges, which, in
itself, says something of Scotland's unique topography.
"The UK now has the widest broadband coverage of the G8
countries and Scotland will have 100% broadband by the end
of the year, ahead of the industrialised nations of the
G8.
"But whilst the people of Scotland have fully embraced
the digital revolution, Scottish businesses have been much
slower to wake up to the benefits of increased productivity
and competitiveness that broadband can bring and BT,
together with others across industry and government is
doing all we can to help stimulate that demand."
Through the Executive's Broadband for Scotland's Rural
and Remote Areas initiative, BT is bringing broadband to
378 exchanges serving 51,000 households and 5,400
businesses across Scotland.
The Broadband for Scotland's Rural and Remote Areas
Initiative has been funded as part of the £24 million
broadband strategy, and has also received financial support
of up to £5 million from the European Regional Development
Fund (ERDF) programme in Scotland.