Background to connectivity in the Highlands and Islands
Over the last 20 years, the Highlands and Islands has seen considerable advances in telecoms connectivity as a result of the joint investment of the public and private sectors. In the last decade almost £14m of public money has helped provide good coverage of both basic broadband and 2G voice and text services.
It is estimated that around 95% of premises in the region can access broadband through their phone line, with the remaining 5% able to receive a service through HIE’s Connected Communities project in the Outer Hebrides and the Scottish Government’s Broadband Reach project using wireless and satellite technology.
Although current broadband availability is good when compared with many other European countries, broadband take up and speeds are limited. Many parts of the region struggle because of their distance from the local telephone exchange or as a result of limited technology available, particularly in some of the region’s smallest exchanges.
Access to services like ADSL2+, which can offer speeds of up to 20Mbps, 3G Mobile broadband and Ethernet services - high speed private broadband circuits used by large businesses, the public sector, Internet Service Providers and mobile phone operators - are limited.