Lothian Broadband Expands Full Fibre Rollout into the Highlands

Scottish ISP Lothian Broadband (LNBL), which is building a gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP / XGS-PON) network for 70,000 premises across rural parts of East and Mid Lothian, has today announced that their rollout is being expanded into the Highland region and they’re launching a new sub-brand – Highland Broadband.

The provider originally began building a new full fibre network to cater for the East Lothian village of Gifford, but they’ve since expanded into various other locations such as Longniddry, Pencaitland, Gullane, East Linton and Pathhead.

The first phase of this new cluster in the Highlands will focus on an initial 5,000 premises starting in Alness and expanding outwards to include the towns of Evanton and Invergordon. This phase will also extend northwards to include Ardross as well as a number of smaller villages along the way. Network construction in Alness is due to start later this month, with the first 1,000 homes on track to be ready for service before the end of 2022.

As part of this move, LNBL are also launching a new ISP brand and will trade in the Highlands under the imaginative title of Highland Broadband. Personally speaking, we aren’t big fans of creating multiple sub-brands as it merely adds more confusion to an already complex market (it might have been better to simply re-brand Lothian Broadband itself).

Phase 1 Locations – Highlands Rollout
• Achandunie
• Achnagarron
• Alness
• Ardross
• Balnaguisich
• Contullich
• Cuillich
• Dalmore
• Dalnavie
• Evanton
• Millcraig
• Rosskeen
• Stittenham

We understand that the new deployment will be supported, at least in part, by some funding from the Government’s Rural Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (RGBS).

Gavin Rodgers, CEO of Lothian Broadband Networks Limited, said:

“We are hugely excited to be bringing FTTP connectivity to the Highlands; already having an FWA business in the Highlands means we know firsthand the difference that this move will make to the communities within this region.

We are especially grateful for the support from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) who have supported us in our plans to bring ultrafast connectivity to an area of Scotland where only 0.14% of homes currently have access to a gigabit service.”

Julia Lopez MP, UK Digital Infrastructure Minister, said:

“Our innovative voucher scheme means people living and working in Easter Ross will soon benefit from lightning-fast internet connections.

Our plan is to unleash growth across the Highlands through the biggest broadband roll out in British history. Our £5 billion Project Gigabit is making sure hard-to-reach areas across Scotland do not miss out on faster, more reliable broadband.”

Customers on their fibre network typically pay from £29.99 for an unlimited 100Mbps (symmetric) service on a 24-month term (discounted to £24.99 for the first 12-months), which rises to £59.99 for their top 900Mbps gigabit tier (discounted to £49.99). Some other areas are also being serviced by the provider’s Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) network, but that only offers download speeds of up to 35Mbps.