More superfast broadband for Borders

Earlston, Lauder, and St Boswells have all been announced as the next areas to be connected to high-speed fibre broadband thanks to the further roll-out of the £410 million Digital Scotland partnership.

As part of this announcement, the towns join more than 56,000 premises in 14 local authority areas across Scotland who will benefit from fibre broadband services offering speeds of up to 80Mbps* being rolled out in the autumn, as BT engineers deploy the technology.

A further 67 places across the country will also benefit as part of this announcement.

The new infrastructure will mean that multiple users in a home or business will be able to access the internet and download and share large files at the same time and more quickly than ever before.

Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “This marks an important milestone for the people and businesses of the Scottish Borders as well as for the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband partnership.

“This programme will lay the foundations of a world class digital Scotland, by extending fibre broadband access to parts of Scotland that wouldn’t otherwise be served commercially.

“The scale of the challenge of delivering fibre broadband into rural Scotland outstrips any other part of the UK and will generate significant economic benefits, including new jobs and increased productivity.

“This is an important step towards ensuring that Scotland has world-class digital connectivity by 2020. Our investment, and that of our partners in the project, will extend access to superfast broadband across Scotland. This will be a key factor in ensuring Scotland’s long-term economic prosperity.”