Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - 
The rollout will enable more households and businesses across Aberdeenshire to upgrade to faster fibre broadband. Across Scotland, thanks to the programme, more than 940,000 premises will now be able to connect to the new network. The programme has brought fibre broadband to Cornhill, Lumphanan, New Pitsligo and Strathdon, with more fibre also now live in several communities including Alford, Ellon, North Water Bridge and Forgue.
Some of the latest premises to be reached – in places like Glenkindie and New Deer – are connected to a full fibre network. Also known as Fibre-to-the-Premises or FTTP, the technology provides ultrafast broadband directly into local homes. They are among more than 117,000 homes and businesses across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire which are now able to connect to the Digital Scotland network as engineers from Openreach continue work on the ground during 2019/20.
Across the country more than 5,000 new fibre street cabinets are now live – offering broadband services at speeds up to 80Mbps – and more than 13,700km of cable has been laid, equal to the length of around 25 per cent of all the roads in Scotland.
Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable connections at a range of speeds and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from. Local people can check if the new fibre services are available to them at www.scotlandsuperfast.com/yourstreet.
Gillian Martin MSP, said:
"More and more people are now able to sign up to fibre broadband thanks to the £460 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme, and it is particularly pleasing to see this in rural areas and rural market towns such as New Deer.
"The difference that having fibre broadband can make to businesses or to improving the range of services available in the home is amazing. I’d urge everyone to take advantage of the faster speeds now available.”
"The difference that having fibre broadband can make to businesses or to improving the range of services available in the home is amazing. I’d urge everyone to take advantage of the faster speeds now available.”
Research has suggested that every £1 in public investment in fibre broadband in Scotland is delivering almost £12 of benefits to the Scottish economy. The independent report commissioned by DSSB and undertaken by consultants Analysas Mason estimates the total benefit from investment as £2.76 billion over 15 years.
Stewart Stevenson MSP said:
"The Digital Scotland rollout is reaching new communities across the North-east and bringing better broadband to rural residents, families and businesses.
“Better connectivity right across Scotland means digital progress on every level – from pupils doing homework and communities tapping in to the tourist trade online to virtual assistants helping vulnerable people to live more independent lives.”
“Better connectivity right across Scotland means digital progress on every level – from pupils doing homework and communities tapping in to the tourist trade online to virtual assistants helping vulnerable people to live more independent lives.”
Thanks to additional investment as a result of innovation and new funding generated by stronger than expected take-up, the rollout will continue in every local authority area during 2019 and into 2020, complementing ongoing commercial build across Scotland. More than 50 per cent of properties reached by the programme have switched to fibre broadband.
