THE Scottish 4G infill programme has delivered 18 mobile phone masts since it was established in February 2020, with 14 new masts built within the first 100 days of the new Scottish Government.
As a result hundreds of homes and businesses in rural communities, including the Scottish Borders, Dumfries and Galloway, Moray, Aberdeenshire, the Highlands, Shetland and more recently, Argyll and Bute and Orkney, can access high-speed mobile connectivity for the first time.
Seven of the 14 new masts have been activated and the further seven are due to come online by November.
Economy Secretary Kate Forbes said:
“The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring as many people as possible across the country have equal access to high speed internet and 4G mobile services. The Scottish 4G infill programme has helped transform connectivity in Scotland’s rural and island communities and has been invaluable during the Covid pandemic.
“In the first 100 days of this Scottish Government we have delivered a further seven masts, bringing the total number of new high speed masts to 18, and are working to activate a further seven by November. This investment is helping people access high speed connectivity and enabling communities to recover from the pandemic by opening up new economic opportunities that will bring huge benefits to local areas.
“This programme will deliver up to 55 masts by March 2023 and an extra £3.75 million has been allocated to help us address the problem of poor mobile coverage.”
