Agenda item

Review of Broadband Improvements in the Scottish Borders – Presentation and discussion on Broadband technologies and their deployment in the Scottish Borders.

5.1       With reference to paragraph 3 of the Minute of 3 September 2018, the Chairman welcomed Mr Bryan McGrath, the Council’s Chief Officer Economic Development, who gave Members an initial presentation as part of Scrutiny’s review of the progress made in delivering improved broadband services in the Scottish Borders by the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband Programme.  The Chairman referred to the review and that Scottish Borders Council had contributed significantly to the rollout of the Scottish Government’s Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme, contributing £8.4m over two years to help extend the rollout as far as possible in the Scottish Borders.  It is noted that two special Scrutiny meetings had been arranged for Monday 5 November and Wednesday 21 November and papers would be compiled with previous reports for the first meeting.  Members of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) would be attending on 5 November to give a presentation.  A glossary of acronyms would be made available to assist Members with the complex terminology.

5.2       Mr McGrath’s presentation explained that the focus of the DSSB programme is on improving the digital infrastructure across Scotland.  DSSB were working on the roll-out of fibre on a much wider basis, but still relying on the existing copper cable network to get back to people’s houses and businesses.  Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) is key to the programme with a top speed on copper cables of 80Mbps with Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) currently running up to 300Mbps.  However, using the old copper cables means that the quality of the signal falls away the further a household or business is from the cabinet.  If a premises is more than a mile from a cabinet it would likely not receive the full superfast broadband speed.  There is complexity around fibre to the cabinet in particular within rural areas.  A lot of houses and businesses were spread over considerable distances and were connected to ‘exchange only’ lines, a line that goes back directly to the telephone exchange.  This created a challenge on how to provide a superfast service.  Solutions for these ‘exchange only’ lines were developed later in the programme.  The practicalities in putting in the cabinets and boxes had been a massive engineering project.  There is a huge requirement on the role of local authorities, the co-ordination process between contractors, roads authorities and all other local authorities.  Road works were ongoing with the challenge around land ownership where boxes need to be fitted. Stickers were put on cabinets in conservation areas with challenges around the siting of the cabinets. 

5.3       A relatively small number of connections were being provided by Fibre to the Premises (FTTP).  These full-fibre connections have only started to appear in the latter part of the roll-out, and provide the fastest speeds available.  Work had been carried out on overhead/underground cables and following existing phone lines in place with distances between telegraph poles being reviewed.  Internal customer wiring required to be reviewed and the installation work is also different.  FTTC connections can be activated easily by the householder, but if FTTP is required this involved an engineer visiting the premises.  The DSSB roll-out is aiming to roll-out fibre as far as possible as it helps to future proof the network.  DSSB had recognised that they would only get to 95% of premises in Scotland but Scottish Government’s commitment recognised the importance of 100% in premises and the proposed R100 programme would reach this by the end of 2021.  It is noted that the R100 programme is in the procurement process at the moment, with the anticipated date for the contracts being Spring/Summer 2019.  In response to a question on digital data being transferred by satellite and whether this could be a solution to reach outlying properties, it is reported that this is sometimes the only option for a connection but the Government is pushing for funding for full fibre into as many premises as possible in future.  It is further reported that many sub-Saharan countries did not have a legacy of copper networks and were therefore using full-fibre networks already, while other countries had put massive public funding into fibre at an earlier stage.

5.4       Discussions were held on the format of the future meetings and it is noted that R100 would not be considered as the review is about DSSB, which should then feed in to the R100 programme.  Members were advised to scan through the papers that would be circulated and to consider the expectations of DSSB and on what had actually been achieved.  There is a short discussion on the Scottish Wide Area Network (SWAN).  The Council had signed up to be part of the public services network in order to get communication networks into schools, contact centres and council premises. 

DECISION

NOTED:

(a)     the presentation; and

(b)     that a special meeting of Audit and Scrutiny Committee to consider the Broadband Review would be held on Monday 5 November at 1pm in Committee Room 2 with a presentation by Scottish Government Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) team; and a further meeting would be held on Wednesday 21 November at 10.30am in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters.