Superfast broadband in Scotland: reaching 100%

2. Market Engagement And Analysis Of Existing Coverage

In preparation for these procurements, Scottish Government conducted an new OMR between 30 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 to establish existing and planned (within the next 3 years) coverage of broadband infrastructure across Scotland. This included both commercial coverage by existing and prospective NGA broadband infrastructure providers and coverage procured under the Scottish Government and HIE's existing contracts with BT Group plc.

Scottish Government contacted all known broadband infrastructure operators within Scotland and other providers known to have (or potentially having) plans to deploy new networks across the UK with a formal request for information. The OMR was also publicised through the Scottish Government website. Operators were requested to provide information on their existing and planned NGA broadband infrastructure (capable of delivering download speeds of at least 30 Mbps), and to provide detail of their coverage at a premise level so as to enable greater granularity of mapping.

This information, together with Scottish Government's own data sources, has been used to define the proposed intervention area for the forthcoming procurements.

This public consultation sets out that proposed intervention area, so as to enable all interested stakeholders (including the public, businesses, internet service providers and broadband infrastructure operators) to comment on the proposals. In particular, this provides an opportunity for broadband infrastructure operators to review Scottish Government's mapping to ensure that it correctly represents the information provided by them in the course of the OMR.

All responses to the public consultation will be carefully considered and where necessary will be incorporated into the final map of the intervention area. The final intervention area maps and a summary report confirming details of the changes made to the proposed intervention area will be published on the Scottish Government website shortly after the close of the consultation period. Where responses to the consultation are received, Scottish Government will respond to these and provide an explanation of how the information submitted has been treated. The finalised intervention area will then be submitted to BDUK's National Competence Centre (" NCC ") for approval against the State aid Framework.