Local MP John Lamont has met with the Minister of State for Digital to discuss broadband and mobile connectivity in the Borders.
At the meeting, the Minister repeated the UK Government’s commitment, now set out in legislation, that a new Universal Service Obligation (USO) will be created for broadband customers. This will give everyone the right to request a broadband connection of at least 10Mb/s. Also discussed at the meeting was how the new Borderlands Growth Deal could include further investment in digital infrastructure for the south of Scotland.
The meeting comes as new figures reveal the amount of people in Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk who are set to benefit from the new Universal Service Obligation. The figures, provided by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, show that 22% of households are set to be linked up to a faster connection (because they are currently unable to receive a connection of 10Mb/s). They also show that 45% of households are set to be able to request faster broadband than they currently receive.
Speaking after the meeting, John Lamont MP said: “It was really useful to be able to meet directly with the UK Government Minister in charge of rolling out the new universal service obligation.
“There is clearly a lot of work to be done as the Borders has some of the slowest broadband speeds in the whole of the UK. Slow broadband is undoubtedly holding the Borders back and a huge number of residents and businesses here are set to benefit from the right to request faster broadband. In this day and age, access to acceptable broadband is as important as being connected to gas and electricity, which is why it was the correct decision to introduce a universal service obligation for broadband.
“I am keen for improvements to be seen as soon as possible and I was pleased that the Minister shares this desire. He spoke about how the UK Government is going to pay the business rates for all new full fibre infrastructure laid by telecoms companies in a bid to incentivise the industry to improve connections. The Scottish Government are set to receive extra money to do this north of the Border and I hope that this is announced by them soon. We also discussed whether improved broadband could form part of the Borderlands Growth Deal and the Minister agreed to look into that further.”