Author: Shirley James

Broadband update Sept 2018 – podcast  transcript 
I’m here with senior auditor, Ashleigh Madjitey, to talk about the latest report on the roll out of broadband across Scotland.  
Ashleigh, can you tell me what it’s about?
Sure.  Public money is used to extend broadband to places not served by commercial activity.  We’ve been tracking that investment over the last three years and this report is an update.
So, what have you found?
The Scottish Government has now achieved its initial target to provide fibre broadband access to 95 per cent of homes and offices. A total of £259 million has been paid so far to BT for broadband roll- out and it’s expected to reach significantly more people than originally planned. So far so good.
And what’s next?
This is where it gets trickier. What’s left are the harder to reach areas – remote and rural communities where the costs are greater and there are much bigger engineering challenges. 
The Scottish Government’s "Reaching 100 per cent" programme says every home and business will have access to superfast broadband (and by that it means speeds of 30 megabits per second) by the end of 2021. 
We think that this is going to be difficult to achieve given the timescales, and the £600 million it has already pledged may not be enough. 
But what does this mean for the public?
Well, fast and reliable broadband is increasingly viewed as an essential part of everyday life – it’s critical for local businesses, accessing public services and for kids doing their homework .  
The public can also find it very confusing – the speeds they receive can be much lower than promised and there are a number of different ways to provide broadband.  There is a wee guide at the back of our report to explain some of the jargon used.
We were also keen to hear the views of rural communities who are still left wanting faster broadband.
And what did they tell you?
A project called Community Broadband Scotland was set up specifically to back local initiatives – but only 13 of the 63 projects it helped finance have proved successful. Community groups told us this has undermined their confidence in the Scottish Government and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to support rural broadband.
So what do you want to see happen next?
The toughest hurdle remains for extending broadband benefits to everyone. The public and local businesses need to know when they will get access to superfast broadband. The contracts for R100 are due to be awarded in early 2019.  So, we are recommending that the Scottish Government publishes clear timescales for the R100 programme by summer 2019 This so rural communities know what to expect and by when. 
The Scottish Government must keep track of technological developments and commercial activities to ensure its future investment is properly planned and directed. 
It is yet to develop and publish an overall strategy to map out and monitor all commercial and public sector activity, including realistic timescales and targets.

Ashleigh, thank you very much.