ISP Highland Broadband confirm full fibre build to start in Aviemore

The boss of network operator and ISP Highland Broadband (formerly Lothian Broadband), which has deployed their own 10Gbp capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across various rural parts of Scotland, has revealed that they’ll “soon” start their expansion into the Highlands town of Aviemore.

At this stage there are no details on how many premises in the town, which is home to over 2,800 people, will benefit or how much investment is involved. But the Strathspey Herald make it sound like the work will be at least partly funded by existing commitments under the UK Government’s Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme (GBVS); this recently closed to new applications, so it’s likely HB’s project was already approved.

The internet service provider has otherwise just marked its imminent Aviemore rollout by making a donation of £1,200 to the local Cash for Kids charity. Colin Woodward, MD of Highland Broadband, said: “Our mission has always been to close the digital divide and bring world-class infrastructure to rural communities across Scotland and we’re excited to be bringing Scotland’s fastest broadband to Aviemore soon. Our commitment to communities extends beyond technology and we’re proud to partner with Mission Christmas and to see the support this provides to children and families across the Highlands.”

The move is interesting because Aviemore has already been largely covered by Openreach’s full fibre broadband network, so we suspect HB may be targeting some of the smaller patches that weren’t covered by that.