MP Voices Concern Over City’s Broadband NotSpots

The MP of Inverness, Danny Alexander, has voiced his concern over the city fast becoming a broadband “notspot”.

In a statement he said, “Today’s BBC research is a salutary warning of the problems being faced by broadband users across the country.”

“There is real frustration among rural parts of the Highlands that broadband is still not available and that the Scottish Government scheme for satellite access in remote areas is much more expensive than people expected.”

He continued, “But the problems are not limited to the rural areas. In the last few months several businesses based in Inverness have contacted me because they are frustrated by falling broadband speeds in the city.”

“They find that speeds routinely fall below 2Mbps, and that it is often almost impossible to get a high speed connection from lunchtime onwards as other users go online.”

The main concern is that Inverness’s economy is suffering because of the low broadband speeds. Lord Carter has so far missed out Inverness as an area that needs next generation broadband. However, Mr Alexander says that the Highlands were once a leader in telecommunications and they could be again if they were one of the first to receive next generation broadband.

Top broadband ‘notspots’ were announced last week by the BBC with the study showing just how poor the UK broadband speeds currently are.

Far from affecting only the rural areas, there are some broadband notspots that are situated in towns and cities. Inverness is just one example of this and it will no doubt cause more concern about how realistic the 2012 Digital Britain goal of 2Mb broadband for all actually is.