People living in the Denburn exchange area in Aberdeen will soon have access to the new GFast technology from Openreach, which offers download speeds of between 100 Mbit/s and one Gbit/s.

Openreach claims that over 7,600 homes and business will be able to sign up to the new service in areas including Rosemount, Gilcomston, King’s Gate, Beechgrove and parts of the city centre.

Aberdeen is one of 59 locations across the UK where Gfast broadband technology is being installed.

GFast offers an improved level of service from the current Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) which is common across the UK. It offers those living within several hundred metres of the cabinet to access ‘ultrafast’ broadband speeds, without requiring the provision of Fibre-to-thePremises (FTTP) i.e. direct to the customer’s door.

A Virtual and IoT Enabled Future

Openreach claims the new technology will offer more security, greater reliability and ‘future-proof’ data-hungry services such as gaming and the Internet of Things (IoT):

‘The new network is more secure and reliable than existing technology. It uses special software that can detect and fix issues before customers even notice and provides a faster, more stable service. This makes it ideal for home workers and small business use, helping to boost productivity and, in turn, the local economy.

‘The increased bandwidth is enough to allow you to have a 4K TV running in every room of your house simultaneously, or pick a film just before leaving the house, hit download, and it would be ready to watch on your phone or tablet almost immediately.

‘It also provides enough additional capacity to ensure broadband connections to homes and businesses are able to support future data-hungry services and applications, such as Virtual Reality gaming and the smart homes, where a network of online sensors can coordinate and control home appliances – from thermostats, door bells and security cameras to door locks, lawn sprinklers, window blinds and washing machines.’

Broadband Infrastructure in Scotland

While this may be welcome news for consumers within the catchment area, it is unlikely to slow demands for full-fibre broadband delivery from home and business owners. Aberdeen is one of the cities in which alternative provider CityFibre is now building just such a full fibre network, creating competition for the industry incumbent.

The issue of broadband provision in Scotland remains contentious with competing claims from the UK and Scottish governments over the responsibilities and progress to date. The new UK government Universal Service Obligation (USO) promises 10Mbps connectivity for every premise in the country by 2020, while the Scottish Government’s £600M R100 programme plans to give every home and business owner in Scotland access to 30Mbps broadband in the same timeframe.

In addition, a number of alternative providers, such as CityFibre, are now starting to build new infrastructure in areas across the UK, including Aberdeen, which take full-fibre broadband direct to each premise.

OpenReach is now promising an ambitious ‘Fibre First’ programme, giving FTTP to reach three million premises by the end of 2020. Openreach says it will extend this rollout still further to around 10 million premises by the mid-2020s, and ultimately the majority of homes and businesses across Britain – if the company has the right conditions to invest in such a programme. This will hopefully reassure Ofcom which has told the company to ‘fibre-up‘ if it wants to remain relevant.

Andrew Hepburn, Openreach’s programme director for infrastructure delivery in Scotland, said:

“Our engineers have worked across the Denburn exchange area in Aberdeen, installing cutting edge technology to make faster, more reliable broadband services available. We’re keen for people to check it out and experience the difference an ultrafast connection can make.

“People are using their home broadband connections more than ever, consuming more than double the amount of data than they did three years ago. A mass of new apps and services which demand higher quality broadband connections are finding their way into our homes and businesses – like virtual and augmented reality and more sophisticated online gaming, education and healthcare.

“That’s why we’re constantly investing in upgrades to the network, to make sure we stay a step ahead of that demand.”