Agenda item

Presentation by Scottish Government.

6.1       The Chair welcomed Mr Duncan Nisbet, who had been seconded to the Scottish Government as a Stakeholder Director. Mr Nisbet provided a presentation on the R100 broadband rollout in Scotland and responded to Members questions.  Mr Nisbet explained that over £1billion had already been invested to transform Scotland’s rural, remote and island communities in terms of digital connectivity.  The Scottish Government had received £28.5million of the UK Government’s Project Gigabit and as part of the principle of ‘No One Left Behind’ central to the Scottish Governments joint Digital strategy with COSLA, the investment had been focused on the R100 programme.   As part of the programme, £600m would be invested, which would focus on areas that would not normally be picked up by commercial developments or investment.  Scotland had been split into three regional lots, North, Central and South.  The approach had been designed to maximise interest from telecoms suppliers.  There had also been mandated areas, which forced bidders to provide service in certain areas. The South contract, worth £133m had been awarded to BT in December 2019. Mr Nisbet explained that there had been contract extensions for the North and South regions, with £36million further invested into the two areas, with revised development plans extended to March 2025 in the South.  The plans were subject to revision in the South, with work in some areas pushed back and others brought forward.

6.2       Mr Nisbet explained that R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme provided those that were not in any deployment plans and received less than 30 Mbps with up to £5k to assist in the provision of superfast broadband to their property.  There were 64 registered suppliers nationwide, with 19 active in the Scottish Borders.  Mr Nisbet explained that in the Scottish Borders 91% of properties had superfast broadband.  773 properties had been delivered full fibre to the property (FFTP), with 6,362 planned installations of FFTP.  2165 properties were eligible for vouchers, with 317 vouchers delivered.   Mr Nisbet stressed that the figures were likely to have a margin for error.  A data portal had been set up, with access to data on R100 contracts and voucher data with Local Authorities.  Full fibre coverage had trebled in the preceding 3 years.

6.3       The Chair thanked Mr Nisbet for his presentation.  In response to a question regarding the uptake levels of vouchers within the Scottish Borders, Mr Nisbet explained that a key part of ensuring higher levels of uptake was awareness, and that there was often a reluctance from the public to seek the alternative.  Members highlighted the importance of the need to future proof the digital infrastructure in Scotland, in particular in rural areas where commercial action was unlikely to reach.  Regarding aggressive marketing practises in the retail market, Mr Nisbet acknowledged the nature of the market and explained that there were account managers in place that worked with voucher suppliers to manage issues.  In response to a question regarding refusal to provide services, Mr Nisbet undertook to communicate directly with Members as required.  In response to a question regarding 4G infill and the provision of services via masts, Mr Nisbet explained that masts were often built as part of the emergency services network, and that if an operator wished to provide service it was then possible for commercial services to be delivered via that mast.  Members highlighted their hopes that the provision of broadband was genuinely future proofed given the rise of homeworking.  In response to a question Mr Nisbet explained that the method used to identify qualifying properties focused on the broadband speed at the property, and that work would proceed across the region to upgrade exchanges up to 2026. 

DECISION

NOTED the presentation.