Internet upgrades go live across Edinburgh and the Lothians

Over 4,000 households and businesses across Edinburgh and the Lothians can now get connected to the UK’s most reliable broadband through the Scottish Government’s Reaching 100% programme.

The £600m R100 rollout has reached more than 57,000 of Scotland’s hardest to connect properties, with people in places like Cockenzie, Dechmont, Fairmilehead, Gifford, Kirknewton and Loanhead among those gaining access to full fibre internet connections2.

Delivery partner Openreach today confirmed more hard-to-reach properties in Auchengray, Bo’ness, Kirkliston, Mid Calder are Philpstoun are next in line for upgrades, as work continues on the ground this summer.

Full fibre broadband is more than 30 times faster than the Scottish Government’s original commitment to make superfast services available to homes and businesses with existing connections of less than 30 Megabits per second (Mbps).

People can check if the rollout has reached their address yet and register for progress updates at www.openreach.co.uk/r100. Once full fibre is available, people need to arrange for their service to be upgraded through their chosen provider. This R100 video explains the build and order process. 

Scottish Government Employment and Investment Minister Tom Arthur said: “Digital infrastructure is a key enabler of economic growth and an increasingly vital part of our everyday lives.

“It’s why the Scottish Government is committed to ensuring communities across the length and breadth of the country will benefit from full fibre broadband and making record investment of over £600 million in its rollout.

“The R100 programme is a critical part of the upgrade to full fibre technology. As one of the most ambitious and complex digital infrastructure programmes in Europe, it is delivering future-proofed digital connectivity across the country and enabling more homes and businesses – including in our island and rural communities – to access a fast and reliable connection. 

“It’s exciting that thousands more premises are now able to access a full fibre connection, and we’ll continue to work with Openreach to deliver further connections up and down the country.”

Robert Thorburn, Openreach partnership director for Scotland, said: “The R100 build is a monumental effort to upgrade and connect Scotland’s most challenging locations. There’s over a thousand people working on the build, with three million metres of new cable installed so far this year – enough to run up and down the A9 seven times.

“We’re seeing really positive, steady growth in take-up across the country, and our teams are all set to carry out further upgrades, working closely with local authorities across the Lothians.

“We do our best to avoid disruptive operations by reusing existing poles and ducts and deploying engineering innovations instead of digging up roads. But we do want residents to be aware that sometimes civils work or new poles are needed, to include as many local homes and businesses as possible.” 

Full fibre broadband provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connections; with fewer faults; consistent speeds and enough capacity to meet ever-growing data demands across multiple devices. 

It supports everything people do online at home, including streaming movies, TV and sport as well as online gaming, with a lot less buffering and slowdown at busier times.

For businesses, a full fibre connection can help with productivity, efficiency and security and support everyday operations like video calls, staff training, online banking and interactions with customers. 

Research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) last year predicted that full fibre across Scotland could add £4.5 billion to the nation’s economy by 2030.  

The R100 programme has recently brought, or is currently bringing, full fibre broadband to selected households and properties in the four Lothian council areas as follows:  

Local AuthorityExchange AreaR100 build status
City of EdinburghMayburyRecent build
City of EdinburghPentland (Kirknewton)Recent build
City of EdinburghKirklistonRecent build and work ongoing 
East LothianCockenzieRecent build
East LothianGiffordRecent build
MidlothianPenicuikRecent build
MidlothianDalkeithRecent build
MidlothianLoanheadRecent build
MidlothianFairmileheadRecent build
MidlothianTempleRecent build
West LothianDechmontRecent build
West LothianAuchengrayRecent build and work ongoing 
West LothianBo’nessRecent build and work ongoing 
West LothianMid CalderRecent build and work ongoing 
West LothianPhilpstounRecent build and work ongoing 

CityFibre teams up with Prospect Community Housing to bring full fibre to Edinburgh tenants

More than 900 social housing properties in Edinburgh are to benefit from access to next-generation digital connectivity.

CityFibre has partnered with Prospect Community Housing to bring full fibre to homes owned and managed by the provider across Wester Hailes.

The blanket wayleave agreement will ensure CityFibre’s full fibre network build can continue to go ahead smoothly, meaning residents across the community will be among those able to sign-up for a Gigabit-speed full fibre broadband connection.  

Full fibre networks are recognised as the digital infrastructure of the future for both homes and businesses. With near unlimited bandwidth, full fibre will ensure households can utilise the latest smart home technology, stream entertainment across multiple devices and make it easier to work from home, with virtually no buffering or lagging.

Sanjay Sudra, CityFibre’s Strategic Wayleave Manager, said: “Digital inclusion is a top priority for us at CityFibre so it is a pleasure to be working with Prospect Community Housing, ensuring as many tenants as possible can access our digital infrastructure.

“Over the last year, our broadband connections have truly been a lifeline as we adapt to new ways of working, socialising and entertaining. We are looking forward to the tenants of Wester Hailes reaping the benefits that come with a first-class and future-proof full fibre connection.”

Neil Munro, Property Services Manager at Prospect Community Housing, added: “Given the amount of home working and blended school work we have all experienced over the past year, a fast, efficient and reliable broadband connection is more important than ever. 

“Unlimited bandwidth and gigabit speed has the opportunity to benefit all of our tenants. The work is being planned now and once start dates are agreed we will look to advise our tenants again”.

CityFibre is investing £100m in Edinburgh’s full fibre network which continues to gather pace. CityFibre is already working with launch partner, Vodafone, TalkTalk and Zen, with additional ISPs expected to join the network soon.

Those interested in full fibre broadband can pre-register their interest with CityFibre to receive information when services are available, or check their postcode to see if services are currently available: cityfibre.com/residential