Connectivity / Petition calls for connectivity plan for the Highlands and Islands to bridge ‘digital divide’
A PETITION calling for the Scottish Government to introduce a new digital connectivity plan for the Highlands and Islands is under consideration at parliament.
The petition, created by John Erskine, urges the government to deliver investment in “digital infrastructure, public-private partnerships, and regular progress updates to improve coverage and bridge the digital divide”.
He says that even after a full roll-out of the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100 per cent (R100) programme 14 per cent of homes in Shetland will be without superfast broadband.
The petition concludes that “enhancing connectivity will enable economic development, support remote healthcare services, and improve educational access, ensuring these communities can thrive in the modern economy”.
Although the petition is under consideration it can still collect signatures, with 113 people backing it at the time of writing.
He has also encouraged Shetland Islands Council (SIC) to submit evidence to “push for real change”.
Erskine met with the council’s depute leader Gary Robinson at the Scottish Labour conference last month.
He said the SIC’s “first-hand experience could be instrumental in securing the investment needed to finally bridge the digital divide”.
The SIC’s website says the local authority is continuing work to develop a strategic outline programme to consider options to those areas of Shetland not currently served by superfast connectivity, or projected to be in the scope of the R100 rollout.
Erskine’s petition was also discussed at a meeting of the parliament’s Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee last month.
Convener Jackson Carlaw said it was an example of a “poacher turned gamekeeper in the public petitions process” because Erskine was previously the committee’s media adviser.
Committee member Fergus Ewing, who represents the SNP in Inverness and Nairn, said it was an “excellent petition that raises very important questions”.
“There is no doubt that there are serious problems in the Highlands and Islands – not just in Orkney and Shetland but in many other parts, including in my constituency – throughout rural Scotland and, as you mentioned, in our cities, where there are some gaps.
“Broadband connection is regarded as a sine qua non. Twenty years ago, it was a luxury, but it has now become, frankly, a necessity.”
Ewing successfully proposed that the committee write to the government to ask whether it will develop a new digital connectivity plan for the Highlands and Islands, and request a timeline for procurement for the forthcoming UK Government-funded Project Gigabit in the region.
He said there are “promises of lots of money, but nobody really knows what is going to happen in the area or when”.
“That is the basic problem, and people become a bit cynical about promises of such a grand nature, unless the meat can be placed in the middle of the sandwich,” Ewing added.
A report by the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre (SPICE) said that while 96 per cent of Scottish residences have superfast coverage (download speeds of 30+ Mbps), rural areas are at a “disadvantage”.
It said in Scotland 99 per cent of urban residencies have superfast coverage, whereas only 83 per cent of rural residences do.
The report added that Scottish residences in a rural setting also have lower levels of gigabit capable and full fibre connectivity than urban settings.
While nine out of ten residences in Midlothian and Glasgow City residencies have full fibre connection, only 14 per cent of Orkney and 11 per cent of Shetland do, it said.
The report added that programmes to enhance mobile connectivity in rural Scotland are making “significant progress”, although the country still has the lowest 4G coverage across the UK nations.
It also highlighted the work undertaken through the Scottish Government’s R100 programme, which is designed to bring faster broadband to properties across the country.
There is also Project Gigabit, which is funded by the UK Government and has been described locally has potentially having a big impact for Shetland.
A £40 million contract for Orkney and Shetland recently went out to tender, targeted at premises which fall outwith the R100 contract and commercial activity from Openreach.
The Scottish Government said in response to the petition that it has “stepped in and played a lead role in enhancing Scotland’s digital infrastructure” despite telecommunications being reserved to the UK Parliament.
It said as of 11 November 2024 more than 19,000 premises in the north of Scotland now have access to faster broadband connections due to the R100 scheme. This also included installing subsea cables to some Scottish islands, including Fair Isle.
The government also highlighted the £28.75 million Scottish 4G Infill programme, which designed to bring connectivity to mobile ‘notspots’.
However, Erskine said the government’s actions “fall short of addressing the fundamental issues of digital exclusion, inequality, and slow delivery in rural Scotland”.
He added that a “new plan is needed to ensure that every community—regardless of geography or income—is part of the digital future”.
Meanwhile Labour’s Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant said a digital connectivity plan for the region would “kick start a set of credible and practical actions for meaningful intervention”.
Supporting the petition, she said: “This issue needs to be addressed and the more proactively this can be done, the more likely it can be successful.”
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