The old cable TV network hidden beneath Aberdeen has been used to speed up rollout of ultrafast broadband to thousands of homes.
Openreach engineers rewired the network which was built back in the 1980s and disused for the last 20 years to help deliver the full fibre services.
It means ultrafast broadband is now available to 70,000 city households and businesses and 40,000 in Aberdeenshire, in places including Ellon, Kintore and Newmachar.
The Ashgrove and Balgownie areas in Aberdeen, alongside Inverurie and Stonehaven, have some of the highest levels of coverage.
The rollout is expected to reach more properties in Fraserburgh, Peterhead, Portlethen and Alford in the next few months.
Robert Thorburn, Openreach partnership director for Scotland, said: “We try to be innovative in our build, so it was brilliant to be able to ‘rewire’ Aberdeen’s old cable TV network with the latest fibre optics, using underground cameras to identify routes into thousands of city homes. That has been transformational.
“It’s quite a jump from 1980s cable TV to how we consume entertainment today, streaming our favourite shows, films and sports events from multiple services and downloading the latest video games. Our demand for data is only growing every year.
“Bringing fibre broadband to places like Rosehearty and Cruden Bay lets local people enjoy all the benefits of ultrafast speeds now – and will meet their needs decades into the future.”
Ultrafast broadband ‘milestone’
One million people can now access ultrafast broadband on Openreach’s Scottish network.
It has invested more than £33.5 million in the local fibre network so far, and is working with the Scottish and UK Governments, through the Reaching 100% (R100) programme and voucher schemes, to upgrade some of the area’s hardest-to-reach places.
