Last Thursday at the council’s infrastructure services committee I asked for an update on the provision of superfast broadband in the Portlethen and Newtonhill area. In response officers have provided me with a lot of information, set out below. I won’t pretend to understand all of this, but it may help others! It comes from the council’s new digital engagement team.

As part of the Scottish R100 programme, local authorities have access to a large swathe of data, that allows councils to see which properties across the region are due to receive full-fibre installation, and details as to when this will happen.  It also shows which properties are eligible for a two voucher schemes, to get a superfast broadband solution now.  Scottish Government has also given registered telecoms operators access to this information, in a bid to incentivise operators to pro-actively install broadband solutions, and utilise the voucher scheme.

GoFibre – who have been calling on residents in Portlethen and Newtonhill – is working in partnership with a local telecoms operator, Marykirk.com.  As their name suggests, they are based in Marykirk, and provide broadband solutions, and good coverage, across the south Kincardine and Mearns, and the north of Angus. 

They offer fixed wireless coverage across the area, but they are working with GoFibre to expand full-fibre installation, to premises that are not included in the planned R100 builds of full-fibre. Marykirk.com is working tirelessly to improve digital connectivity for the area. 

Similar to local authorities, operators only get premise-level information, i.e. address and data, and do not have access to personal information.  Therefore, the only direct way to reach residents is door-knocking or leaflet drops. This explains the door-to-door work that has been happening, and GoFibre is trying to help residents use their vouchers, to roll out additional full-fibre infrastructure.

Since launching in September 2020, it took until September 2021 for Scottish Government to release information regarding the roll-out of the R100 programme for the Aberdeenshire area, and finalise the eligibility status of premises for the voucher schemes.  That has coincided with the council’s digital engagement team being created, precisely to help stimulate demand in the R100 programme, and support residents through the processes involved. 

The R100 planned full-fibre infrastructure won’t reach every resident in Aberdeenshire until 2027, which is a long time since the programme was first announced in 2017.  Additionally, there are more than 7,000 properties in Aberdeenshire which will be missed by this roll-out, and although they are entitled to a £5,000 voucher per premises to procure a broadband solution, there is undoubtedly a lot of frustration for these individuals who feel forgotten. 

That’s the council’s team has been created, to listen to residents and identify the gaps that will still remain after R100, but to also work closely with residents, communities, and operators, to help find solutions for every resident. 

Here is what’s happening on the ground with this programme.  Scottish Government commissioned BT, and Openreach as their supplier, to deliver full-fibre installation across Scotland, in a bid to get the majority of premises with slow broadband, access to superfast speeds of at least 30Mbps.  This has resulted a ongoing plan of full-fibre installation happening in phases across Scotland.  These installations, often referred to as ‘Build-Outs’ will be completed by the following works:

• Telephone exchanges in selected areas are upgraded to allow for increase in capacity
• Infrastructure for fibre-optic cabling may need improved between the exchange and noted properties
  • This may mean replacing copper cabling that is hung from telegraph poles currently
  • This may mean replacing cabling in underground ducting
  • This may mean installing new ducting, to allow for fibre-optic cable to be installed properly
• Engineers will then lay fibre-optic cabling from the exchange, directly to every listed property.  This means gigabit capable broadband is fed right to the premises.
• Once this work has been completed, Openreach will likely drop flyers / notes through residents doors to let them know the work is completed.
• At this point, it is then up to the resident to get ‘switched-on’ by speaking to their Internet Service Provider, informing them that Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) is live.  The Internet Service Provider will send out an engineer to do the final connection, and install a router.
• The resident will then have access to gigabit capable broadband of speeds in excess of 1000Mbps / 1Gbps.

These build-outs will happen in phases across Aberdeenshire.  Phase 1 will reach premises in Newtonhill, Portlethen, and Netherley.  There are 392 premises in the area that will be completed, and therefore ‘live’ by the end of March 2022.  The next phases are as follows:

Phase	Completion	# of Premises	Areas
Phase 2	Jun-22	1,034	Stonehaven and surrounding area / Crathes / North Aberdeen / Belhelvie / Newmachar
Phase 3	Dec-22	1,484	Stonehaven south to Kinneff / large chunk of Garioch / Newburgh
Phase 4	Jun-23	1,286	Portlethen outliers / Bridge of Muchalls / North Garioch / Ellon
Phase 5	Dec-23	1,005	Laurencekirk / St Cyrus / Huntly / Ellon outliers
Phase 6	Dec-24	2,259	Rest of Kincradine & Mearns / North Marr / West Banff & Buchan / Mid-Formartine
Phase 7	Dec-25	4,283	All of Buchan / Rest of Formartine / East Banff & Buchan
Phase 8	Dec-26	3,528	All of Marr / South-west Garioch / Aberdeen City / Maryculter
Phase 9	Dec-27	583	Westhill / Drumoak

Apart from the build-outs of full-fibre, any premises that is due to receive full-fibre, but not until after March 2022, they are eligible for a £400 voucher, to obtain a temporary internet solution.  These vouchers need to be used by 31 March 2022, and the council’s digital team is keen to help people use this voucher, and give support and advice on different solutions open to them.

And lastly, as mentioned previously, there are over 7,000 premises who will not benefit from the build-outs, and have a £5,000 voucher to obtain a more permanent solution for superfast broadband.  There is no deadline for this voucher scheme at present.  In the North Kincardine ward, there are 213 premises in this situation. 

For both voucher schemes, the digital engagement team is here to support, guide and inform residents in what their circumstances are, what support is available to them for obtaining superfast broadband, and we are here to help them through the process of using the vouchers.

The team’s webpage is live on the council website, with links and information: https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/business/support-and-advice/communities/Digital-Connectivity/.

And more information on R100 can be found on the programme website: www.scotlandsuperfast.com