THE HIGHLANDS and Islands will share £600m of Scottish Government funding to bring superfast broadband to every home and business ‘by the end of 2021’.
The announcement, made as part of the Scottish Government’s 2018-19 draft budget, marked the start of procurement for the Reaching 100 per cent (R100) programme aiming to deliver fast and reliable internet to Scotland’s rural and island communities ‘to provide a truly national fibre network’, a spokesperson said.
The procurement will be made up of three regional lots (North, Central and South), with each containing a mix of the commercially attractive rural areas and harder-to-reach communities.