Question reference: S5W-34832
- Asked by: Keith Brown, MSP for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 28 January 2021
-
Current status: Answered by Paul Wheelhouse on 11 February 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what percentage of (i) households and (ii) business premises have had access to superfast broadband since 2016.
Answer
Ofcom has provided the following figures for numbers of properties in Scotland able to access superfast broadband - of 30 Megabits per second (30Mbps) and above - by year.
Unfortunately, the figures provided do not break down between residential and business properties, and, on a directly comparable basis, only go as far back as 2017:
Year | Properties with superfast coverage (30Mbps+) |
2020 | 2,581,836 |
2019 | 2,573,289 |
2018 | 2,563,554 |
2017 | 2,276,309 |
However, Ofcom’s Connected Nations annual reports for 2019 and 2020 provide information on coverage percentages across residential and commercial properties in Scotland, as set out in the following table:
Year | Superfast coverage in residential properties (%) | Superfast coverage in commercial properties (%) |
2020 | 94 | 83 |
2019 | 92 | 83 |
Prior to 2019, these reports outline coverage percentages by non-SME properties and SME properties:
Year | Superfast coverage in non-SME properties (%) | Superfast coverage in SME properties (%) |
2018 | 92 | 86 |
2017 | 87 | 78 |
2016 | 83 | 72 |
More information can be found on Ofcom’s website at:
The Scottish Government, alongside our partners in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme has played a key role in extending the reach of fibre broadband. Independent broadband analysis site, thinkbroadband (the same site the UK Government quotes in its own figures), states that 94.6% of premises across Scotland are now able to access superfast broadband speeds of 30Mbps and above – up from just 59.3% in 2014, when DSSB deployment began.
I am pleased to report that 10,655 premises in the constituency of Clackmannanshire and Dunblane now have access to fibre broadband, thanks to the DSSB roll-out, with over 10,398 of those being provided with access to superfast speeds at the UK definition of 24Mbps and above.