Highland Broadband retreats from planned fibre roll-out in Caithness UPDATE

Alternative network operator and UK ISP Highland Broadband (formerly Lothian Broadband), which has spent the past few years building a 10Gbp capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) network across various rural parts of Scotland, has reportedly shelved plans to extend their network across several additional villages in Caithness.

Until recently the provider had been telling locals that they were “planning to build to your area and expect to start connecting your community by late 2026” and had even opened up pre-orders to help build interest. But this plan appears may have been partly dependent upon Highland Broadband being able to harness the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS).

The problem is that the UK Government moved to close their own voucher scheme (GBVS) to new projects in September 2026, although that change had long been broadcast. Similarly the Scottish Government’s (SG) own Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (SBVS) will close to new applications from 20th November 2026, which leaves few options.

According to the John O’Groat Journal, the provider’s build plans for the Caithness villages of Keiss, Reiss, John O’Groats, Dunnet, Canisbay, Mey, Latheron, and Latheronwheel are among the areas that have been left in limbo. But other locations, such as Watten and Gillock in the Highlands Council area, are also understood to have been impacted.

In some areas people had already been assigned a voucher for the build, which may now become unusable.

A spokesperson for Highland Broadband said:

“Highland Broadband is proud to be delivering its ultrafast broadband to more than 10,500 premises in Caithness, around two-thirds of all households in the area.

This includes not just Thurso and Wick but many other communities, including Castletown, Forss, Glengolly, Halkirk, Lybster, Murkle, Reay, Scrabster and Staxigoe.

We are always working to bring the benefits of our network to more people and communities, as quickly as possible, although roll out plans must always remain flexible and can be impacted by a combination of factors including demand, funding strategy and commercial viability.”

The question now is whether or not the impacted communities can instead be rolled into one of Project Gigabit’s existing contracts for Scotland, which are currently held by a mix of both GoFibre and Openreach (BT). But we can’t blame a smaller altnet like Highland Broadband for having to change their plans, particularly in light of the huge economic strains such operators currently face and the loss of the SG’s voucher scheme.

In the meantime, it’s worth noting that some of these communities may still be able to benefit from alternatives, such as 4G or 5G based mobile broadband connectivity or Starlink’s LEO satellite service. Some of the area may also have access to FTTC (SOGEA / VDSL2) broadband lines via Openreach, although the speeds on that are many times slower and less reliable than FTTP would have delivered.

UPDATE:

Highland Broadband’s project appears to have dependent upon the GBVS, rather than the SBVS as originally stated, although both are now closing. Corrected above.