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Parliamentary inquiry into poor broadband coverage 17/11/11
A short, targeted inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee to identify the work required to significantly expand Scotland’s digital broadband infrastructure has its first session of oral evidence today.
The committee wants to assess the coverage, availability and uptake of broadband across Scotland and to consider what work is required by the Scottish Government, infrastructure providers and others to increase the provision and uptake of broadband in Scotland.
Committee convenor Maureen Watt MSP said: “We have areas of Scotland where access
to broadband is limited and other areas where there is no problem with access but
take-
"We will, of course, look at the poor coverage in rural areas but also examine why, in our largest city Glasgow, broadband take up is only 51%, well below the UK average.
"We want to highlight what needs to be done to ensure that Scotland does not fall behind in digital provision.
“There are crucial issues about the provision of broadband which need to be addressed in Scotland. It is an area of high importance for the Scottish and UK governments and the European Commission.
"We are acutely aware that we need a workable digital strategy to ensure businesses and households across Scotland have access to a digital infrastructure which keeps us up to date with other countries in the UK and Europe.”
The Committee will hear oral evidence on this inquiry throughout November and December 2011 and report in the new year. It follows a call for evidence to a wide range of interested groups throughout Scotland.
There will be four days of oral evidence given to the Committee from key people and providers including academics and experts, community based groups, large broadband providers and the Scottish Government.