Connected Communities to complete coverage

The ambitious £5.2 million fixed wireless broadband project in the Western Isles, Connected Communities, has turned out to be the final piece of the jigsaw in achieving 100 per cent broadband coverage in Scotland.

With the islands-wide network scheduled for completion later this year, this week’s Scottish Executive/BT announcement of a basic broadband service for 378 of the 399 local exchanges missing out on BT’s commercial ADSL roll out means all Scottish communities will have high speed connections by the end of this year.

What is going to be available is local exchange-based broadband. On 230 of the earmarked exchanges services ranging from 512k to 2Mbps will be available.

The remaining 29 per cent of the targeted exchanges will be upgraded using the BT Exchange Activate model, a basic 512k service. With around only 100 lines on the exchanges scheduled for Exchange Activate, even the 512k service - due to lower contention rates (the number of users simultaneously using the service) - will be substantially faster than dial up connections.

The Exchange Activate product was developed especially for those rural communities with very small exchanges which could not host standard ADSL exchange equipment and has been deployed in the past in the exchanges in Fair Isle, Plockton, Onich, Achiltibuie and Colonsay.

Announcing the broadband deal between the Scottish Executive and BT, Enterprise Minister Jim Wallace said that the Executive is stepping in to help provide the ‘vital technology’ in areas like this where the commercial market won’t deliver.

He said: “We made a commitment in our Partnership Agreement to ensure that every community in Scotland has access to broadband by the end of 2005. We are now well on the way to delivering on this.

“We cannot allow remote and rural communities to fall behind simply because they cannot access this vital technology that can make a positive difference to many aspects of our lives.

“We have made it clear again and again that economic growth is our top priority. By providing access to broadband technology in Scotland and the huge benefits it brings, we are putting in place an important business and educational tool to facilitate economic growth in every community.”

Meanwhile, Bob Downes, the director of BT Scotland, said: “Delivering broadband to all of Scotland has been at the heart of BT Scotland strategy in recent years. Having invested in the region of £100 million to bring broadband to 97.8% of the country by this summer, we welcome this opportunity to complete the framework. This will also be welcome news for our workforce of almost 12,000.

“We look forward to working with the Scottish Executive to overcome Scotland’s unique geographical challenges and use technology to place Scotland at the technological, if not physical, epicentre of Europe. Ubiquitous broadband availability brings great opportunities for Scotland plc in education, public services and business life, and will place Scotland among the leaders of the G8 countries in terms of availability. BT Scotland is delighted to have been entrusted with a lead role in securing the country’s economic future.”

The 21 local exchanges in the Western Isles are due to be enabled as part of the separate Connected Communities project, supported by the Executive, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the European Regional Development Fund. Delivered by a 5.8Ghz fixed wireless network, the Connected Communities broadband is synchronous (equal upload and download speeds) with connection packages ranging from 512kbps up to 6Mbps and 30:1 contention.

Details of the broadband rollout schedule will be available soon at broadbandforscotland.co.uk. Meantime, it’s possible to view a list of broadband suppliers in a particular exchange area by entering a postcode in the “Suppliers in my area” search tool.