{"id":33280,"date":"2022-12-26T16:45:48","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T16:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=33280"},"modified":"2022-12-26T16:46:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-26T16:46:46","slug":"scotlands-r100-fibre-broadband-build-wont-finish-until-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2022\/12\/scotlands-r100-fibre-broadband-build-wont-finish-until-2028.html","title":{"rendered":"Scotland’s R100 Fibre Broadband Build Won’t Finish Until 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new Freedom-of-Information (FoI) request has revealed that the Scottish Government<\/a>‘s \u00a3600m Reaching 100% (R100) project with Openreach<\/a> (BT<\/a>), which is extending fixed “superfast broadband<\/em>” (30Mbps+) across rural parts of the country (predominantly via FTTP<\/a>), is now not expected to reach full completion until March 2028.<\/p>\n

Firstly, a recap. The R100 contract is split between three LOTS and focused on extending 30Mbps+ capable connectivity across as many of the final c.5% of poorly served premises in Scotland as possible. LOT 1<\/strong> (North Scotland and the Highlands) is expected to cover a further 59,276 premises (100% via FTTP<\/a>), while LOT 2<\/strong> (Central Scotland) will reach 32,216 premises (95.6% via FTTP<\/a> and the rest FTTC<\/a>) and LOT 3<\/strong> (Southern Scotland) will reach 20,740 premises (100% via FTTP).<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> The average cost to connect premises under R100 was recently revealed to be \u00a35,690 by Audit Scotland (here<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Overall, around 112,000 premises<\/strong> were previously expected to be covered through the three R100 contracts by around 2026\/27. Most of LOT 2 and 3 will actually finish well before then, around 2023\/24, but LOT 1 will take longer because it’s focused upon the much more challenging ‘Highlands’ region and, on top of that, it suffered a significant delay following Gigaclear<\/a>’s legal challenge (here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Back in July 2022 we reported that Openreach<\/a> and the gigabit voucher scheme had so far completed the R100 coverage for \u201cmore than<\/em>\u201d 9,800 premises, which is up from 5,900 in Feb 2022 and 5,300 in Dec 2021. The latest FoI reveals that 14,353 premises<\/strong> have been reached by the R100 programme, which leaves 100,516 left to reach (slightly increasing the original coverage target to 114,869 premises).<\/p>\n

However, the FoI response highlights that the rollout may take a little bit longer than previously indicated, with some exchange areas in LOT 1 now having to wait until March 2028.<\/p>\n

Extract from the FoI Document<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The contracts are delivered in phases. There are number of exchange areas with an expected delivery date of March 2028. However, it is not possible for us to say with certainty which of these will be last as this will be determined by our contract deliver partner, Openreach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For reference, we expect build for each of the three contracts to conclude in the years set out below:<\/p>\n