Hansard

This Government is committed to transforming Scotland’s digital connectivity and delivering world-class digital infrastructure. We have made significant progress already in that regard, despite telecommunications being an entirely reserved matter and all legal and regulatory powers sitting with United Kingdom ministers.

Through the £400 million digital Scotland superfast broadband—DSSB—programme, which was set up by my colleague Fergus Ewing, we met our target of providing access to fibre broadband to 95 per cent of premises across Scotland on time and on budget. In fact, we exceeded that target. Now, more than 943,000 premises can access fibre broadband, which is around 103,000 more premises than we originally anticipated.

We are also going where others would not invest. Before the DSSB programme, there were no plans for commercial fibre broadband roll-out in Orkney, Shetland or the Western Isles. Now, more than 80 per cent of premises in those places have access. We have also seen huge increases in coverage in much of rural Scotland, from the Borders to Argyll and Bute and the Highlands. As the DSSB programme team has announced, take-up of broadband services on DSSB-funded infrastructure now sits at over 60 per cent, although it was expected that take-up would be only around 20 per cent. That higher take-up further enhances investor confidence.

Through a contractual mechanism that is known as gainshare, that better than expected take-up has resulted in additional funds being available, which is ensuring that build continues and that there is no gap between the DSSB programme completing and our reaching 100 per cent—R100—programme beginning. Indeed, we now have a strong foundation from which to reach 100 per cent.

Since 2014, superfast broadband access has increased by 35 percentage points in Scotland—from 59 per cent to 94 per cent—compared with a 21 per cent increase in the UK. I am aware that the UK Government has, belatedly, woken up to its responsibilities in this area. As part of his leadership campaign last summer, Boris Johnson pledged to deliver full fibre

“to every home in the land”

by 2025. By the December UK election, that promise had been watered down to a commitment to

“roll out gigabit broadband across the country by 2025”.

The UK Government has also been slow to invest in digital connectivity beyond its contribution to the DSSB programme. Currently, it is contributing just £21 million of the £600 million that this Government has committed to the R100 programme. The UK Government is providing a miserly 3.5 per cent of that money, with the balance of £579 million being fully funded by the Scottish Government. However, I expect Scotland to receive our fair share of the £5 billion that was announced by the UK Government for extending gigabit-capable connectivity, and I would welcome the Parliament’s support to achieve that.

That is why, over recent years, in the light of large areas of rural Scotland continuing to experience very poor or non-existent broadband coverage and poor connection speeds, we could not wait for UK ministers to fulfil their responsibility to deliver broadband infrastructure for all. We have, therefore, forged our own ambitious digital agenda, committing to deliver access to superfast broadband to every home and business in the country through the R100 programme.

I have kept the Parliament informed of developments in the procurement process for R100 throughout the past year. Most recently, I advised Parliament that contracts covering south and central Scotland areas have been signed, and, as promised, I can provide more detail today on what those contracts cover. They will deliver £133 million of investment in the south lot area and £83 million of investment in the central lot area.

In the south lot, alongside commercial coverage, we will reach more than 99 per cent of the 26,000 premises that are eligible for R100, leaving in the region of just 200 premises in the area requiring to be connected by alternative means. In the central lot, the contract that we have signed with BT, alongside greater than anticipated commercial build, will reach at least 47,000—almost 87 per cent—of the 55,000 eligible premises. The remainder will require to be connected by alternative means, which I will outline shortly.

I remind members that our commitment was to extend superfast access to all, providing access to speeds of 30 megabits per second or more. I am able to announce today that we will go significantly beyond that. I am delighted to advise that, as a result of our actions, all of the planned R100 build in the south of Scotland and the vast majority of the R100 build in central Scotland will use full-fibre—or fibre to the premises—technology. That will provide access to gigabit-capable speeds—in other words, not 30Mbps but 1,000Mpbs. The roll-out of full fibre to most parts of southern and central Scotland is going significantly beyond our original commitment and will deliver a truly future-proofed solution for Scotland, ahead of the rest of the UK, even though the topography of those areas means that this will be one of the most challenging broadband infrastructure builds anywhere in Europe.

Of course, that complexity and the fact that the technology that is being delivered will go beyond our original commitment mean that the civil works will take time. Engineers will reach around half of the target premises in both lots—approximately 23,000 in central Scotland and 12,000 in the south—by the end of 2021, and the majority of the build will be completed by the end of 2023.

I acknowledge that, on its own, that would be insufficient to enable superfast access for all homes and businesses by the end of 2021, as promised. That is why, in the meantime, we will provide additional support to ensure that everyone can access superfast broadband services in that timescale.

As I have previously made clear to the Parliament, there was always going to be a need for an aligned intervention to connect premises that, for technical reasons, are beyond the reach of R100 contracts. I can advise today that the aligned interventions will be delivered through a voucher scheme that will be funded by the Scottish Government. I can further advise that anyone who is unable to access superfast broadband through the R100 programme by the end of 2021—even if R100 will ultimately reach them—will also be eligible for that voucher scheme. The voucher scheme will launch later this year and will provide grants to broadband customers in non-domestic and domestic premises, offering support to access a range of technologies and suppliers.

Of course, I had hoped to announce details of all three contracts today. Unfortunately, as I advised before the recess, the contract award for the north lot, to which we have committed £384 million, is now subject to a legal challenge from Gigaclear Ltd. Until that challenge is heard and resolved, we are unable to award the contract as planned. I am unable to comment on the litigation process, but I reassure members that we will do our utmost to ensure that people in the north of Scotland can access superfast broadband through the R100 programme as soon as possible. In the meantime, customers in the north lot area will be able to access the voucher scheme when it launches, later this year.

Commercial investment has an important part to play in enhancing Scotland’s digital connectivity. Indeed, as members may be aware, it is a matter of law that the Scottish ministers cannot invest in areas where commercial investment is already proposed. Commercial suppliers are already going further than was originally anticipated, which has reduced the number of premises that require public investment. BT is currently updating its modelling to reflect those changes. Once that is completed and detailed survey work has been undertaken, I will be able to share specific details of the roll-out plans down to premises level.

The fibre that we deliver through the R100 programme will help to improve Scotland’s mobile connectivity, providing the backhaul that is needed to support the growth of 4G and 5G services, which will benefit the development of the Scotland 5G Centre and our 5G strategy. It will enable the movement of data across Scotland, supporting the growth of data-driven industries and technologies such as digital health delivery and the internet of things—IOT—in which Scotland is already a leader. It will also support our ambition to establish Scotland as a green data-hosting location.

The R100 fibre will link to new international fibre connections that will connect Scotland to the rest of the world, enable data to be moved efficiently across national boundaries and open up a range of new economic opportunities for existing and emerging businesses. Crucially, enhanced digital connectivity will support Scotland to make a just transition to the new ways of working that are needed to address climate change. It will give people and businesses the tools and skills that they need to harness the potential provided by digital technology.

There is no doubt that rural Scotland has perennially had to play catch-up with the rest of the UK when it has come to digital connectivity and prior waves of telecommunications investment. The work that has been done to date, which has been led by this Government’s approach—again, I pay tribute to Fergus Ewing for that—and undertaken through DSSB, has laid foundations on which R100 will build. That will ensure that, for the first time, Scotland is ahead of the curve not just in the UK but internationally.

The R100 programme is a prime example of how the Scottish Government is using devolved economic development powers to mitigate and resolve a market failure that has arisen in what is, for now, a reserved policy area: telecommunications. This Government will extend full-fibre broadband across the length and breadth of rural Scotland. We will deliver a huge number of full-fibre connections in what are among the most challenging locations anywhere in the UK or Europe. For most of those who will benefit, we will greatly exceed our 30Mbps superfast commitment.

The R100 programme will help to deliver social, economic and environmental benefits for all of Scotland, enabling innovation and the creation of highly skilled jobs, opening up remote working and social and leisure opportunities, delivering digital health and other new public services, and reducing travel, including the need to commute.

Scotland’s enhanced digital connectivity will support our transition to a net zero economy and will boost population retention and attraction. I am excited about what that connectivity will mean for everyone in those communities that we reach through delivery of this hugely ambitious investment and commitment.