More than 800 homes and businesses in Giffnock are now able to connect to high-speed fibre broadband thanks to the £428M Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme.

The Digital Scotland team celebrated the latest fibre availability in the East Renfrewshire town this week as they visited a fibre street cabinet that will serve part of the local area. They were joined by senior pupils from Braidbar Primary School who discovered what goes on inside the green street cabinets.

The latest premises are among around 780,000 homes and businesses across Scotland which are now able to access fibre broadband through the Digital Scotland rollout.

Other areas in East Renfrewshire to benefit from the rollout, led by the Scottish Government, include Thornliebank, Barrhead, Busby, Newton Mearns, Uplawmoor, Clarkston and Eaglesham. More local coverage will follow as engineers from Openreach – Scotland’s digital network business - continue work on the ground.

Local people can check the Digital Scotland website - scotlandsuperfast.com - to find out if they are able to access the latest fibre broadband technology. People need to sign up with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic.

Karen Cumming, Acting Head Teacher at Braidbar Primary School, said: “It was fantastic to see our pupils involved in helping launch the latest fibre broadband in the town. It was a great opportunity for them to see the amount of hard engineering work that’s involved in connecting up communities. It also showed them how beneficial the technology would be when it comes to their school work and various other aspects of their home life.”

East Renfrewshire Council Leader Tony Buchanan said: “It is great news for Giffnock and the whole of East Renfrewshire that more and more households are able to connect to fibre broadband. This service will provide many opportunities for homes and businesses, and I’m sure will be welcomed by all.

“It was great that pupils from Braidbar Primary were able to be part of the launch today, as they are the future of our communities, and providing this latest infrastructure will help to improve the life chances of all of our children and young people. I’m looking forward to seeing this project continue to develop throughout the area as we continue to focus on making East Renfrewshire a fantastic place to live, work and visit.”

Fibre broadband offers fast and reliable broadband connections at speeds of up to 80Mbps* and there are many suppliers in the marketplace to choose from. Whether you own a business, work from home or want to keep in touch with friends and family, fibre broadband enables multiple users to connect to the internet at high speeds and get better, faster access to online services. 

Sara Budge, Programme Director for Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband, said: “It’s fantastic news that the programme has been able to benefit residents and businesses in and around Giffnock.

“I would like to thank the pupils from Braidbar Primary School for joining us to unveil the latest fibre street cabinet and I am glad to see that it has been able to benefit the local community.”

Digital Scotland funding partners include the Scottish Government, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, BT, the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), local authorities and the European Regional Development Fund. BT is investing £126 million in the rollout, and the total project value includes around £18 million which is being reinvested back in to the programme as a result of stronger than expected early take-up.

Robert Thorburn, Openreach client director for Scotland, said: “It’s great that pupils from Braidbar Primary School were able to get an insight into how high-speed technology powers the internet and learn about a very positive side to a career in engineering.

“Thousands of people across Giffnock and East Renfrewshire can now connect to their best ever broadband speeds when they sign up with a service provider. There’s lots of competition out there and people may find they could be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service, so I’d urge people to check and order.”

Further information is also available on Twitter @ScotSuperfast or Facebook at www.facebook.com/scotlandsuperfast

*These are the top wholesale speeds available from Openreach to all service providers; speeds offered by service providers may vary.