Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 16 November 2022
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to reported data showing that rural areas in the North East Scotland region continue to experience significantly worse broadband access than the Scotland and UK averages.
Despite the area of telecommunications being wholly reserved to the UK Parliament under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998, the Scottish Government has already stepped in and taken the lead in addressing poor broadband coverage, given its economic importance to Scotland.
Through initiatives such as the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) and Reaching 100% (R100) programmes, we have connected almost one million properties to faster broadband right across Scotland.
Our R100 programme ensures that all homes and businesses can access a superfast broadband connection delivered through the £600 million R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme or commercial coverage.