The Building (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2024: Island Communities Impact Assessment

Gathering Data

19. Due to the higher cost of deployment broadband coverage for both gigabit-capable and superfast broadband in island communities is below the Scotland average. The availability of fixed line gigabit-capable connectivity is dependent on subsea cables to provide backhaul capacity.

20. Thinkbroadband data published in August 2024 shows fixed line gigabit-capable and superfast coverage in the Local Authority areas that cover island communities compared to Scotland as a whole:

21. Despite telecoms being reserved to the UK Parliament, the Scottish Government has forged its own ambitious policy agenda and is making a substantial investment in Scotland’s digital connectivity infrastructure.

22. Scottish Government interventions have provided public subsidy to increase the number of Scotland’s inhabited islands that have subsea cables providing backhaul capacity.

23. The £463 million invested in the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) helped to extend access to fibre-based broadband to over 95% of premises in Scotland by the end of 2017. This scheme installed 19 subsea cables to improve the availability and resilience of fibre connectivity to some of Scotland’s inhabited islands.

24. Through the Reaching 100% (R100) procurements, 16 subsea cables to 15 islands were laid in 2022 as part of the R100 North contract.

25. The R100 North contract is investing £421m (including £17.4m of UK Government funding) to increase the availability of full-fibre gigabit-capable connections. A summary of eligible premises within the contract and connections delivered to date for the Local Authority areas that include island communities is listed below.

*Premises delivered includes overspill – where additional premises are connected commercially during the R100 build phase.

26. Premises beyond the reach of commercial rollout plans by network operators and the R100 contracts are eligible for a voucher offering up to £5,000 towards securing a superfast connection from one of our registered suppliers. This could be full fibre or an alternative technology such as Fixed Wireless Access, capable of meeting the eligibility threshold of 30 Mbps.

27. In total 12,000 island premises are included within the R100 North contract and expected to receive gigabit-capable connections.

28. In addition to the R100 programme, the Scottish Government will also work closely with the UK Government to help deliver Project Gigabit in Scotland. Project Gigabit is a UK Government programme which aims to ensure 85% gigabit-capable coverage by 2025 and nationwide coverage by 2030.

29. Procurements form the next phase of Project Gigabit activity in Scotland, with Scottish Government leading on local (Type A) and regional (Type B). Each contract awarded will see further UKG funding committed to extend gigabit access across Scotland.

30. The Scottish Government launched one local and one regional Project Gigabit procurement in May 2024. Further procurements are expected to launch throughout 2024. This includes a regional procurement covering Orkney and Shetland. £41m of UKG funding has been secured for this procurement with the number of eligible premises to be confirmed imminently.

31. Further premises in Scotland’s island communities are expected to be included in a Scotland-specific call-off on the nationwide (Type C) framework, managed by the Scottish Government and UK Government. It is anticipated that the call-off will be initiated later in 2024.

32. The Scottish Government will also continue to urge the UK Government to set out its plans for delivering connectivity to what they consider “Very Hard to Reach premises”, including the launch of its proposed £8 million Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite fund.