Broadband voucher plan after fibre network target missed

The Scottish government is to pay for people to access superfast broadband after admitting it will not hit its target for extending the fibre network.

Ministers had originally pledged to extend high-speed cables to every home and business in Scotland by 2021.

However MSPs have now been told that work on the network will run past 2023.

A voucher scheme will be offered so those not connected on the original schedule can get superfast broadband from satellite or mobile operators.

Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said this would ensure everyone would be able to have access to high-speed services in the original timescale, despite the delay to the infrastructure rollout.

But opposition parties said his announcement was "deeply disappointing" and "another broken promise from the SNP".

The SNP's manifesto in 2016 had pledged that the party would "ensure that 100% of premises in Scotland have access to superfast broadband" by the end of the parliamentary term, in 2021.

In a statement at Holyrood, Mr Wheelhouse said the plan for the Reaching 100% or "R100" programme was now to roll out full-fibre broadband - with speeds "significantly beyond our original commitment".

However he said the "complexity" this entails meant that work on "around half" of targeted premises in the south and centre of Scotland would be finished by the end of that year, "with the majority of the build completed by the end of 2023".

The minister did not provide a target date for the north of Scotland, where the contract for the work has been caught up in a legal challenge.

Mr Wheelhouse acknowledged that "this on its own would be insufficient to enable superfast access for all homes and business by the end of 2021 as promised", saying that "additional support" would be offered instead.

This will take the form of a voucher scheme which the government said would "allow people to obtain superfast broadband from other sources, from satellite operators to fixed wireless/mobile operators and larger fibre suppliers".

Details of how this scheme will work are expected later in the year.

Mr Wheelhouse said: "Through our investment, we will extend full-fibre broadband to much of rural Scotland, going beyond our original commitment, and helping to deliver future-proofed economic, social and environmental benefits for the whole country.

"This is one of the most challenging broadband infrastructure builds anywhere in the world, and this, combined with the decision to future-proof our technology, means the work will take time to complete.

"We are also setting up a voucher scheme which will launch later this year. This will provide grants to broadband customers, ahead of the delivery of the R100 contracts, to support access to a range of technologies and suppliers."

Scottish Conservative infrastructure spokesman Jamie Greene said it was "another day, another failed contract, another broken promise from the SNP".

He said: "The SNP had no obligation to make promises it couldn't keep to businesses and residents, but it chose to do so for political gain knowing it was nigh on impossible to deliver."

Scottish Labour's Colin Smyth said the government was "never, ever going to deliver its R100 programme by the end of 2021", calling this "the worst kept secret".

He said: "Superfast broadband is no luxury. The ability to have quick and easy access to the internet is a necessity in the modern world, particularly for those in rural areas from the Highlands to the Borders."

And Lib Dem connectivity spokesman Mike Rumbles said that people were getting "a piece of paper" instead of a service, adding: "Ministers have utterly failed to do what they said they would do and thousands of homes in rural and remote communities have been let down by this Scottish government."