MAREE TODD: Digital connections are vital to Highlands and Islands
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Holyrood Notebook by Maree Todd
I’ve had a busy month travelling the length and breath of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross – covering almost 1500 miles – for constituency visits and surgeries.
It’s been great to engage with so many constituents, third-sector organisations, and local businesses from across the constituency during recess and to hear of the issues that matter most to communities right now.
Digital connectivity has been a common theme that has cropped up throughout the summer. Given our increasing reliance on the internet for so many aspects of our daily lives, including work, education and socialising, the need for digital infrastructure improvements, particularly in the post-pandemic era, is more pressing than ever.
Telecoms is an area reserved to Westminster, but the UK government have been exceptionally slow in delivering on improvements. As digital connectivity is of central importance to Scotland’s economy, this has required the Scottish Government to step in.
In Scotland, we have some of the most challenging locations anywhere in Europe for providing telecoms infrastructure, especially in the Highlands and Islands. This means a substantial amount of investment and innovation is required to ensure that every household, business and public sector organisation in the region has access to a fast and reliable internet connection.
Although we are not quite there yet, we are making solid progress through the likes of the R100 programme and various other projects backed by the Scottish Government.
The Scottish National Investment Bank – established by the Scottish Government – announced in April that it was to invest a further £20 million to help connect 100,000 rural homes to ultrafast fibre broadband. Highland Broadband is supporting the roll-out and is already enhancing connectivity across the region, including in my constituency where homes have recently been connected in Invergordon, Alness and Evanton.
I joined Highland Broadband’s CEO Gavin Rogers and engineers as they connected homes in Invergordon to ultrafast broadband last month. I got to "blow" the fibre along the 200m stretch to the cabinet, enabling the very first home in Invergordon to be connected.
Highland Broadband will be working to connect more homes across the Highlands in the coming months.
Improving 4G infrastructure in rural areas is equally important. The Scottish Government’s 4G Infill Programme (S4GI) – supported by a £28.75 million investment – will deliver coverage in up to 55 mobile "not spots", focusing mostly on sites completely without coverage in the Highlands and Islands.
So far, we’ve seen 13 new 4G masts installed in the region, with a further six due to be installed by the end of the year. The S4GI programme receives partial funding from the European Regional Development Fund, once again highlighting the considerable benefits EU membership has brought to the Highlands and Islands.
We have also seen the Scotland 5G Centre Innovation Hub open in Inverness as part of the Scottish Government’s S5GConnect programme. The hub, which is hosted by Highlands and Islands Enterprise, is collaborating with regional businesses, and granting them access to a 5G development platform. This will help support the growth of our local digital economy and in turn, attract investment to the region.
While we are making significant progress in improving digital connectivity across the region, there is still a considerable amount of work to be done to fill the remaining gaps.
I know that many folk are still grappling with poor broadband connections, which emphasises the ongoing challenges.
I am confident, however, that the political will is there to deliver these improvements, which is evidenced in the Scottish Government’s intervention on an area that ultimately comes under the responsibility of the UK government.
- Maree Todd is the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.
