Funding Fears for Perthshire Community Wireless Broadband Network

Fears over a possible misuse of public funding have erupted in the Highlands of Scotland after a community broadband project in rural Perthshire – the Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership (HPCP) – allegedly failed to deliver what was expected.

Building broadband networks can be an expensive and time-consuming business, especially in remote rural areas and the Scottish Highlands certainly have plenty of those. One such location where it can be difficult to establish a new network is in the rural Tay Forest Park (Amulree, Trochry and Struan) area.

In March 2015 the Scottish Government’s Community Broadband Scotland (CBS) initiative set out to improve the service for local communities by contributing £58,500 to help setup a fixed wireless broadband network in the area (here), which at the time appeared to predict that speeds of up to 16-20Mbps could be possible (a big improvement from the previous sub-1Mbps norm).

Back then Bruce Patterson, the partnership’s project officer, suggested that the first services could be ready to go live by Easter 2015. Unfortunately MSP Murdo Fraser has today claimed that only 20 subscribers have so far been connected to the network, which is alleged to have also gobbled over £120,000 of public investment (note: it’s unclear how many premises are actually covered).

According to Fraser, the Perth and Kinross Council has now “pulled the plug on funding and I have [called] for greater clarity.” A related Freedom of Information (FoI) request made by The Courier to see a council report on HPCP was also refused on the grounds that the public interest in withholding the information was greater than the public interest in disclosing it. Hmm.

A Highland and Island Enterprise (HIE) Spokesperson said:

“[The] funding was to enable HCPC to design, procure and install a community broadband network and allow premises in three rural communities to receive faster broadband service.

There were significant delays to the project, which were largely out of HPCP’s hands. Works were completed for two of the three areas and CBS is helping the remaining community to find a solution.”

Part of the problem might stem from the fact that a rival wireless network (here), which is run by AB Internet, also appears to be serving a big slice of the Loch Tay area with an even faster 50Mbps capable service and appears to have had more success in signing up subscribers.

Meanwhile the Highland Councillor Kate Howie (HPCP Director) has defended the project by saying that Fraser shouldn’t be “criticising local people for trying to find local solutions … the road has not been without its difficulties and many other community broadband schemes have encountered the same type of problems – topography (as in the wireless line of sight method), land ownership for installations, weather limitations and funding constraints.”

Howie noted that the cost had been especially high because in many occasions “each individual household has had to have a unique type of connection” and she added that the “cost of no connection to the rural areas will be much greater in lost business,” while also encouraging “social and rural isolation“.

Customers generally pay HPCP £149.99 (one-off) for installation and prices start from £19.99 per month for an 8Mbps (4Mbps upload) connection with a 30GB usage allowance (18 month contract), which rises to £34.99 for 25Mbps (10Mbps) and a 90GB allowance.