Question reference: S6W-24754
- Asked by: Liam McArthur, MSP for Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 23 January 2024
-
Current status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 6 February 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6F-02720 by Humza Yousaf on 18 January 2024, whether the First Minister plans to request the addition of a correction in the Official Report in relation to his claim that "All homes and businesses across Scotland can currently access a superfast broadband service", in light of Ofcom statistics reportedly showing that superfast availability across Scotland is at 94.7%.
Answer
As outlined in response to question S6W-24707 on 6 February 2024 every home and business across Scotland should be able to access a superfast broadband connection – either through fixed line broadband, mobile broadband, fixed wireless access or using newer technologies such as Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
The superfast broadband figure quoted in Ofcom’s latest Connected Nations Report published on 19 th December 2023 relates to the availability of fixed line broadband only, which currently stands at 95% across Scotland.
The same Ofcom 2023 report also states that “Starlink [an LEO satellite service] currently… delivers nationwide broadband coverage, including in harder-to-reach areas” and that “Ofcom home broadband performance measurements suggest measured speeds on its [Starlink] network average around 100 Mbit/s download and 14 Mbit/s upload.”
All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .