Nearly 5,000 homes, businesses and schools in Lanark have become the latest in Scotland to benefit from high speed broadband.
The new full fibre network, implemented by telecoms giant Openreach, has been welcomed by South Lanarkshire Council.
But many Lanark residents have yet to make the move to the “ultrafast” services now available, with take up at 14 per cent, behind the Scottish average of 23 per cent.
Openreach says full fibre broadband provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity; with fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands.
Robert Thorburn, Openreach’s partnership director for Scotland, said: “Our new fast and reliable network will give Lanark businesses an edge as they fight back from the pandemic and means that residents’ connectivity is future-proof, no matter what life throws at us next.
“Our commercial build in Lanark is largely complete, with engineers now focused on reaching some of the remaining, trickier properties. We’re intent on delivering a great service to local residents, helping people to work from home easily and build opportunities in their communities.
“Gigabit-capable broadband can have a huge impact on people’s daily lives, and it’s great for the economy too. But upgrades aren’t automatic and people will need to place orders through their chosen providers to get connected to ultrafast services.”
Cleland Sneddon, chief executive of South Lanarkshire Council, said: “Having access to the next generation of reliable, ultrafast internet connectivity will give Lanark residents and businesses a much-needed boost. We’re very pleased to see this progress and welcome Openreach’s balanced build approach, which includes smaller towns in hard-to-reach parts of the country as well as more urban areas.
“We’ll continue to work with Openreach to encourage further investment in connectivity in South Lanarkshire.”
Openreach has announced plans to invest in full fibre broadband for the majority of premises in 16 towns and villages across South Lanarkshire, including Rutherglen, Carluke and Lesmahagow. It’s part of the company’s plans to reach 25 million UK homes and businesses by 2026.