Scotland to resolve broadband reach

• Tags:
• Availability,
• Scotland,
• Affordable Broadband,
• Suppliers

Kable

Published: 08 Oct 2007 08:27 BST

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The Scottish government has launched a scheme to extend broadband services to those who are unable to get connected.

On 5 October, 2007 the Scottish government announced that it is asking individuals and businesses to let it know if they have problems accessing broadband, so that it can address problems of reach. Access to broadband technology is often limited by the distance from ADSL-enabled telephone exchanges.

In an attempt to extend broadband to people in rural or remote areas, the government has launched an open procurement process, worth up to £3.5m, to find suitable broadband service providers.

Scotland currently has over 99 percent broadband availability. However, the Scottish government has been monitoring continuing access difficulties and aims to satisfy the unmet demand for affordable broadband.

"As many individuals and businesses in Scotland as possible should have broadband access," said enterprise minister Jim Mather.

"In this 21st century, broadband is an increasingly vital tool for business and is now used by more and more households as a standard utility. By extending the availability of affordable broadband, we can help create a wealthier and fairer Scotland."

Due to data-protection issues on information held by telecom operators, the Scottish government can only attempt to resolve access problems that are notified directly.

It says that ideally, individuals should attempt to secure services from existing suppliers by ordering broadband and requesting that an engineer tests their line — as this is the only way to confirm whether broadband is available.

Anyone with access problems should inform the government by the end of 2007 to enable connectivity work to begin in 2008.

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