Independent Scottish Broadband provider, GoFibre, has confirmed plans for a further 82,000 premises to be connected to its transformative full fibre broadband network in Scotland and the North of England by the start of next year.

As the construction of GoFibre’s full network continues to grow at pace, the new plans will see the network reaching an additional 32 harder-to-reach towns and villages including in Angus and Midlothian for the first time, plus further expansion across Northumberland.

With the aim of closing the digital divide across rural areas, this next rollout announcement comes on the back of GoFibre’s gigabit capable broadband network reaching over 35,000 “ready-for-service” premises across Aberdeenshire, East Lothian, the Scottish Borders and Fife.

GoFibre’s footprint has also accelerated in the past year as a result of two UK Government contracts awarded under Project Gigabit for Teesdale and North Northumberland.

Once this next phase of expansion is complete in early 2024, it will mean GoFibre’s network reaches almost 12,000 premises.

More than 74% of the UK can access gigabit connections – such as full fibre – but these are most common in urban areas.

Bridging the rural digital divide is essential in bolstering rural and remote economies, allowing these areas to participate in technological advances.

Once in place, the expanded network will enable local residents and businesses to access up to 10Gbps speeds, significantly enhancing their ability to work from home efficiently, utilise multiple devices without lag, and quickly download entire box sets and large files in mere seconds.

What Premises are Being Added?

Added to GoFibre’s roll out plans include:

• 15,500 premises in Angus and Aberdeenshire including: Montrose, Kirriemuir, Forfar, Brechin, and Laurencekirk.
• 29,000 Premises in the Scottish Boarders and Midlothian including: Glashiels, Hawick, Jedburth, Duns, Eyemouth, Selkirk, and Gorebridge.
• 23,500 additional premises in Fife, in and around the following areas: Crossford, Cairneyhill, Torryburn, Valleyfield and Culross, Carnock, Oakley, Comrie and Blairhall, Baldridgeburn and Wellwood in West Fife, and Aberdour and Kindhonr, Ballingry, Falkland, Elie, and St. Andrews in East Fife.

Planning and construction of the expanded network is already underway in many of these areas and the first residents and businesses in this next rollout phase will be connected as early as Autumn 2023.

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The next phase of expansion supports 50 jobs across internal and supplier teams.

Neil Conaghan, chief executive officer at GoFibre, said: “We are excited to announce the next phase of our network build after significant progress on our home turf in the Scottish Borders, Aberdeenshire, Fife and East Lothian.

“This investment not only benefits the homes and businesses who will be connected to game-changing broadband, it also means we will create and support 50 more jobs in the local areas we will serve.

“It is fantastic to be leading the delivery of broadband to rural and under-served communities in these areas, which is crucial for our rural economies now and into the future.”