5G first for those without any G please

Last week I took part in a Scottish Government debate on mobile and broadband coverage in the Islands and rural communities. There is no doubt that we are now a society dependent on connectivity. In my constituency it is of the utmost importance that people are able to connect through broadband or a mobile signal, without this it can become near impossible for local people and commerce to go about their business.

For example it took me 40 minutes to book my railway ticket to parliament online last week. This is the type of typical challenge facing many of my constituents.

In parliament the majority of our workload is now online, more so now with a ‘paperless parliament’ where we are trying to limit our paper usage. This is great for me, as when I come to the Scottish Parliament my broadband speed increases by a factor of 800 compared to at home. However, my work as an MSP is in both Holyrood and in my rural constituency and the work has to go on regardless of my broadband speed. If this is a challenge for me, I know it is for my constituents and for businesses in my area.

However, it is with great delight to hear from Digital Scotland that by the end of 2017 they aim to have 95% of homes and businesses across Scotland with access to fibre broadband.

Of course there will still be 5% that don’t have access and work on this remaining 5% is expected to start after 2018. At the moment solutions for those connected to exchange only lines are being found, but there are still those rurally where it doesn’t make economic sense for providers to give solutions. This is why Digital Scotland will support community led solutions to tackle this in more remote areas. For the moment exchange only lines will continue to deny people access to the same service as the majority of Scotland.

The issues are not only for Broadband but also extent to mobile usage in the islands and rural communities, where I live I get no mobile signal and also have slow broadband speeds. We are heading the 5th generation of our mobile signal and at the moment I can’t get 1G, 2G, 3G or 4G ! Perhaps the solution is that in the next roll out of mobile coverage we focus on those communities that currently have no coverage or at least no good coverage. There is no doubt to me that improved connectivity will keep business and people in rural areas.