A Scottish independent full fibre broadband provider is extending its network to 82,000 new premises in Scotland and the north of England.
GoFibre is set to reach an additional thirty-two harder-to-reach towns and villages including in Angus and Midlothian for the first time, plus further expansion across Northumberland.
GoFibre is the trading name for Borderlink Broadband, which was founded in 2017 in the Scottish Borders town of Duns, to address the need for faster broadband in rural areas.
The company secured an investment of £164m in early 2022 from Gresham House’s sustainable infrastructure strategy, BSIF, to accelerate its rollout of full-fibre broadband throughout Scotland and the north of England, enabling the company to transform more lives and help to address the UK’s digital divide.
The gigabit capable network already reaches over 35,000 “ready-for-service” premises across Aberdeenshire, East Lothian, the Scottish Borders and Fife.
Its footprint accelerated in the past year as a result of two UK Government contracts awarded under Project Gigabit for Teesdale and North Northumberland.
Once this next phase of expansion is complete in early 2024, it will mean GoFibre’s network reaches almost 120,000 premises.
Gigabit-capable broadband networks allow communities to upload and download data with none of the disruptions associated with ageing copper networks. More than 74 per cent of the UK can access gigabit connections – such as full fibre – but these are most common in urban areas. GoFibre is responding to the challenge of connecting rural and harder to reach locations.
Once in place the expanded network will enable local residents and businesses to access up to 10Gbps speeds, significantly enhancing their ability to work from home efficiently, utilise multiple devices without lag, and quickly download entire box sets and large files in mere seconds.
Adding to GoFibre’s roll out plans will be:
15,500 premises in Angus and Aberdeenshire including:
- Montrose
- Kirriemuir
- Forfar
- Brechin
- Laurencekirk
29,000 premises in the Scottish Borders and Midlothian including:
- Galashiels
- Hawick
- Jedburgh
- Duns
- Eyemouth
- Selkirk
- Gorebridge
23,500 additional premises in Fife, in and around the following areas:
West Fife:
- Crossford, Cairneyhill, Torryburn, Valleyfield and Culross
- Carnock, Oakley, Comrie and Blairhall
- Baldridgeburn and Wellwood
East Fife:
- Aberdour and Kinghorn
- Ballingry
- Falkland
- Elie
- St Andrews
14,000 premises will be added in Northumberland over and above the 3,750 delivered under the UK Government’s Project Gigabit plan:
- Berwick upon Tweed
- Alnwick
- Amble
Planning and construction of the expanded network is already underway in many of these areas and the first residents and businesses in this next rollout phase will be connected as early as Autumn 2023.
This next phase of expansion supports 50 jobs across internal and supplier teams.
Neil Conaghan, chief executive officer at GoFibre, said: “We are excited to announce the next phase of our network build after significant progress on our home turf in the Scottish Borders, Aberdeenshire, Fife and East Lothian.
“This investment not only benefits the homes and businesses who will be connected to game-changing broadband, it also means we will create and support 50 more jobs in the local areas we will serve.
“It is fantastic to be leading the delivery of broadband to rural and under-served communities in these areas, which is crucial for our rural economies now and into the future.”