Question reference: S6W-20181
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 26 July 2023
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Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 15 August 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-19328 by Richard Lochhead on 3 July 2023, whether every home and business in Scotland will have access to superfast broadband by March 2028, and, if this is not the case, whether the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) will continue beyond the completion of the R100 contracts and by what date it expects to meet its goal of 100% superfast broadband coverage across all of Scotland.
Answer
Through a combination of the R100 contracts, the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme and the commercial broadband market – including the emergence of technologies such as Low Earth Orbit satellite - every home and business across Scotland can access superfast broadband speeds of 30 Megabits per second (Mbps). The R100 contracts are continuing to deliver future-proofed, full fibre connections – capable of gigabit speeds; more than 30 times faster than our original superfast target.