Meeting of the Parliament 30 October 2018
I have read the manifesto; I am not sure whether the member has done so.
I am sure that the Scottish Government could bring forward the date, if it had the will to implement its own manifesto. I am, of course, trying to be helpful to the minister by making that suggestion.
This is not the first time in this chamber that I have urged the Scottish Government to get a move on with its R100 programme. I have brought to the attention of Scottish Government ministers the fact that thousands of homes in areas such as Aberdeenshire are experiencing nothing like the levels of connectivity that have been promised. In some cases, internet speeds reach barely 1 Mbps, and mobile phone coverage is intermittent or even non-existent.
Only last week, a constituent whose home is in Inverurie, a town of more than 10,000 residents, reported that he could not find a provider or a contract that would deliver speeds of more than 6 Mbps.
It is unfortunate that when the SNP promised, in 2012, to deliver 95 per cent fibre coverage and that
“next generation broadband will be available to all by 2020”,
it did not start by investing in the areas that would see the most benefit. Kate Forbes will be aware of that.
I have lost count of the number of times that I have been told that residents who live only a stone’s throw from a green cabinet can scarcely access the most basic internet services.