26
October
2015
|
13:14
Europe/London

Clydebank Tunes In For Fibre Broadband

Summary
Clyde 1 breakfast show host, George Bowie, and Bowie@Breakfast traffic and travel presenter, Cassi Gillespie, gave a big Digital Scotland shout-out as they joined pupils from Clydebank High to welcome the arrival of fibre broadband.

Clyde 1 breakfast show host, George Bowie, and Bowie@Breakfast traffic and travel presenter, Cassi Gillespie, gave a big Digital Scotland shout-out as they joined pupils from Clydebank High to welcome the arrival of fibre broadband in the area.

More than 3,500 homes and businesses in Clydebank are now able to connect to fibre broadband, with more to follow, thanks to the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

S6 Pupils from Clydebank High helped George and Cassi with the celebrations at a special event on Friday, where they unveiled one of the new street cabinets that will serve part of the town. Joining them were Councillor David McBride, Vice-Convener for Infrastructure, Regeneration and Economic Development for West Dunbartonshire Council, and Councillors Gail Casey, Willie Hendrie and Denis Agnew – as well as members of the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband team.

The properties in Clydebank join more than 5,100 homes and businesses in West Dunbartonshire which are now able to access fibre broadband through the Digital Scotland rollout.

Other areas where fibre is now live thanks to the programme include Balloch, Jamestown, Bonhill, Dumbarton, Yoker, Bowling and Old Kilpatrick. More homes and businesses are also planned to go live in the coming months as engineers from BT’s local network business Openreach continue work on the ground.

The latest premises are among more than 438,000 across Scotland which can now access fibre broadband services at speeds of up to 80Mbps* as part of the £410 million Digital Scotland rollout. The project underpins the Scottish Government’s aim of delivering world class connectivity by 2020.

Fibre broadband enables multiple users in a home or business to access the internet, download and share large files at the same time more quickly than ever before. In order to take advantage of the higher speeds now available, residents should contact their service provider.

On Saturday, the public were also able to attend a special drop-in event at Three Queen's Square to get up to speed with the technology and seek advice on areas such as signing up with a service provider.

Clyde 1 Bowie@Breakfast host, George Bowie, said: “I was delighted to assist the pupils from Clydebank High with welcoming fibre broadband to the town.

"It’ll certainly have a positive effect for everyone across the area. It’ll also be making it even easier for listeners to tune into the station via the Clyde 1 website (www.clyde1.com), as well as chat and interact with me and the other Clyde 1, 2 & 3 presenters through social media.”

Attendees climbed aboard the new Digital Scotland Fibre Showcase, a specially-adapted vehicle which features all of the equipment used in the roll-out of fibre broadband. The unique vehicle includes equipment which is familiar to members of the public - like new green street cabinets - as well as some of the things they don’t often see - such as how fibre optic cables are ‘blown’ underground as part of the deployment.

Councillor David McBride, Vice-Convener of Infrastructure, Regeneration and Economic Development, said: “It is great news for Clydebank and the whole of West Dunbartonshire that more and more households are able to connect to fibre broadband. This service will provide many opportunities for homes and businesses, and I’m sure will be welcomed by all.

“It was great that pupils from Clydebank High were able to join us today, as they are the future of our communities, and providing this latest infrastructure will help to improve the life chances of all of our children and young people. I’m looking forward to seeing this project continue to develop throughout the area as we continue to build a better West Dunbartonshire.”

Sara Budge, programme director for Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, said: “With homes and businesses in Clydebank being able to connect fibre broadband, residents will see a positive boost in what they can achieve online, once signing up with a service provider.

“It was fantastic having pupils from Clydebank High and George Bowie and Cassi Gillespie to help us with our celebrations. Fibre services will have a huge benefit to those in any level of education. With the number of resourcing websites, interactive sites and video streaming channels available, it’ll really bring any subject to life and help children get the best out of their education.”

BT is investing £126 million in the Digital Scotland programme, in addition to its commercial rollout of fibre broadband in Scotland.

Brendan Dick, BT Scotland director, said: “Thousands more people in West Dunbartonshire now have access to their best ever broadband speeds thanks to the Digital Scotland project. It’s great that local pupils, as well as George and Cassi, were able to help us celebrate its arrival in Clydebank and get an insight into how high-speed technology powers the internet.”

Local people can check the interactive map on the Digital Scotland website (/whereandwhen) to find out if they can get the service and further information is also available on Twitter @ScotSuperfast or Facebook at www.facebook.com/scotlandsuperfast

ENDS

Caption 1 – (L to R) S6 Clydebank High pupils Mirrin Coull, Connor Latimer, Abubakr Mahmmod, Beth Bowers and Amy Brown join Clyde 1’s Cassi Gillespie and George Bowie in welcoming fibre broadband to the town.

Caption 2 – (L to R) S6 pupils Mirrin Coull and Abubakr Mahmmod, Communications and Stakeholder Manager for Digital Scotland Fiona Muir, Councillor Denis Agnew, S6 pupil Connor Latimer, Councillor William Hendrie, Cassi Gillespie and George Bowie, S6 Pupil Amy Brown, Councillor Gail Casey, Community Officer for Digital Scotland Stephen Chambers, Councillor David McBride and S6 pupil Beth Bowers.

*These are the top wholesale speeds available to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.

While many premises in enabled areas now have access to fibre broadband, some may not be able to connect due to network topography and other technological factors. To be sure that you can get fibre broadband, check with your internet service provider.

Background

The Digital Scotland rollout consists of two projects – one covering the Highlands and Islands area and the other covering the rest of Scotland. Funding partners include the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), local authorities and the European Regional Development Fund as well as BT.

The Rest of Scotland project is being supported through £157.6million public funding including £50 million from BDUK and BT’s private investment of £106.7million. The public funding includes funding from all 27 local authorities in the project area and additional funding from 14 local authorities who are investing around £51 million to increase coverage, meet local priorities and address the digital divide in their areas. Coupled with the investment in the Highlands and Islands region announced earlier in the year, it brings the total investment in fibre broadband in Scotland to more than £410 million.

The Rest of Scotland project area includes the following local authority areas: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, parts of Argyll & Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian, East Renfrewshire, City of Edinburgh, Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow City, Inverclyde, Midlothian, North Ayrshire (apart from the Islands), North Lanarkshire, Perth & Kinross, Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire, Stirling, West Dunbartonshire, West Lothian.

The Highlands and Islands broadband project is being led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise and includes the following local authority areas: Highland, Moray, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands, Eilean Siar (Western Isles), parts of Argyll and Bute and part of North Ayrshire (Islands).

About BDUK

Superfast Britain is a UK Government programme of investment in broadband and communication infrastructure across the UK. Run by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, this investment helps businesses to grow, creates jobs and will make Britain more competitive in the global race. The portfolio is comprised of three elements:

  • £780m to extend superfast broadband to 95% of the UK by 2017
  • £150m to provide high speed broadband to businesses in 22 cities
  • £150m to improve quality and coverage of mobile phone and basic data network services
  • Administered on behalf of Government by Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), Superfast Britain is transforming Britain by promoting growth, enabling skills and learning, and improving quality of life.

    For further information: https://www.gov.uk/broadband-delivery-uk

    About BT

    BT’s purpose is to use the power of communications to make a better world. It is one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, serving customers in more than 170 countries. Its principal activities include the provision of networked IT services globally; local, national and international telecommunications services to its customers for use at home, at work and on the move; broadband, TV and internet products and services; and converged fixed/mobile products and services. BT consists principally of five customer-facing lines of business: BT Global Services, BT Business, BT Consumer, BT Wholesale and Openreach.

    For the year ended 31 March 2015, BT Group’s reported revenue was £17,979m with reported profit before taxation of £2,645m.

    British Telecommunications plc (BT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BT Group plc and encompasses virtually all businesses and assets of the BT Group. BT Group plc is listed on stock exchanges in London and New York.

    For more information, visit www.btplc.com.