Question reference: S4W-25392
- Asked by: Cara Hilton, MSP for Dunfermline, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 28 April 2015
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 6 May 2015
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how much it plans to invest in broadband each year in Fife.
Answer
The Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband Programme is a £409 million investment to rollout fibre technology throughout the country. The programme is split between two projects, one covering the Highland area, the second covering the rest of Scotland, of which Fife is included.
The rest of Scotland project is valued at £264 million with:
£157 million from public sources (Scottish Government, European regional development fund, Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and all 27 local authorities that form part of the rest of Scotland project area – the European funding will be used to specifically benefit small to medium size enterprises) and £106.7 million from BT.
This money will be spent throughout the whole of the rest of Scotland area. Further to this, Fife Council have chosen to contribute an additional £2.8 million to maximise the rollout in the Fife local authority area increasing coverage from 69% of premises, to over 98%.
Our contract with BT does not specify which technologies or costs will be deployed in particular areas. Instead, it focuses on overall national coverage delivered. We remain on track to have extended fibre broadband access to 85% of premises across Scotland by the end of 2015 and 95% by end of 2017.