Glasgow Warriors stars score with superfast broadband

Players from Glasgow Warriors scored a try when they launched the latest batch of high-speed fibre broadband in Glasgow.

Warriors, Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour touched down to unveil the latest fibre broadband street cabinet in Scotstoun to go live. 

It is just one of a number of areas across the city which is now superfast thanks to the £410 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband Programme.

Across Scotland, nearly 580,000 premises are now able to connect to fibre thanks to the Digital Scotland project, led by the Scottish Government. Among the total are more than 60,000 Glasgow homes and businesses, including premises in Cranhill, Pollok and Drumchapel.

Within Scotstoun, over 4,500 premises are able to get fibre broadband due to the DSSB programme with more deployment to follow until 2018, as engineers from BT’s local network business Openreach continue work on the ground.

Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable broadband connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps* and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from.
Whether you own a business, work from home or want to keep in touch with friends and family, fibre broadband enables multiple users to connect to the internet at high speeds and get better, faster access to online services.

The Glasgow Warriors, who are currently top of the Pro12 division, are based at Scotstoun Stadium – just a few yards from where the cabinet launch took place in Danes Drive.

The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme – in partnership with the Scottish Government and BT – will deliver access to fibre broadband to around 95% of premises by the end of March 2018, when combined with existing commercial roll-out plans. The £410 million programme underpins the Scottish Government’s aim for Scotland to become a world class digital nation by 2020.

Delivered through two projects – led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in their area and the Scottish Government in the rest of Scotland – the partnership currently reaches more than 550,000 premises across the country, with the rollout continuing at pace.

Other funding partners include the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), local authorities and the European Regional Development Fund. BT has invested £126 million in the two projects, in addition to its commercial rollout.

Sara Budge, Programme Director for Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, said: “Thanks very much to Stuart and Tommy for taking time out of their training schedule. It’s great news that many residents and businesses in Glasgow are now able to receive fibre broadband thanks to the programme, with areas like Possil, Pollok, Cranhill and Drumchapel as well as Scotstoun all benefitting and more local coverage to follow.

“The difference that fibre broadband can make is amazing. Once people have signed up with a service provider, it will give much more flexibility whether it’s at work or in the home.”

Liz Mallinson, BT Scotland’s Fibre Broadband Director, added: “Thousands of Glaswegians now have the opportunity to access their best ever broadband speeds when they sign up with a service provider. Many local people are already enjoying the benefits and with Glasgow among the best served cities in the UK for high-speed availability, we’d urge others to consider the benefits of a move to a fibre service.

"There’s lots of competition out there – and people may find they could be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service.”

Local people can check the interactive map on the Digital Scotland website (http://www.scotlandsuperfast.com/where-when/) 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

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

Notes to editors

Due to the current network topography and the economics of deployment, it is likely that not all premises within selected exchange areas will be able to access fibre-based broadband at the same point in the roll-out. Further announcements will be made as more areas are able to access the growing fibre infrastructure.