Holyrood’s flagship programme for boosting connectivity across the remote and rural areas of Scotland rolled out broadband to an additional 7,000 homes beyond its target for the 2025 fiscal year
The Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% broadband rollout programme has exceeded its targets, despite initial scepticism about its potential to close the connectivity gap.
In 2024/25, a total of 27,000 premises across the country were equipped with faster broadband via the scheme, exceeding the target of 20,000. The release of this new data comes after the scheme, which has faced numerous setbacks, drew significant criticism from opposition MSPs and local authorities for falling short of its goals.
The scheme was initially set to be completed by 2021, but the government has since pushed back the deadline to 2028 citing legal challenges.
Shetland was among the areas that benefitted from the recent upgrade, with connections made in the village of Baltasound in Unst. Other sites which also saw a boost in connectivity included Killantringan Lighthouse in Dumfries and Galloway and Stornoway in the Western Isles.
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Business minister Richard Lochhead said: “Fast, reliable broadband is a fundamental building block for economic growth. The Scottish Government’s R100 programme is one of the most ambitious and complex digital infrastructure programmes in Europe, rolling out connections in some of the most challenging locations in the country to help businesses and communities prosper. Despite telecommunications being reserved to the UK Government, our commitment to the R100 programme illustrates this government’s commitment to delivering the digital connectivity people and businesses need to succeed.”
He added: “Exceeding our 2024-25 delivery target was helped by record Scottish Government funding and an ongoing partnership with Openreach maximising the opportunities to deliver fast broadband to even more homes and businesses.”
