The north-east will benefit from a multimillion-pound scheme to improve internet speeds across the UK.
The region is just one of six included in the project, worth about £60million, which is designed to bring the fastest and most reliable broadband to schools, hospitals and businesses.
It will mean full fibre connections – the most reliable technology available – will run straight to the doors of customers’ homes or businesses, rapidly increasing speeds for users.
As well as the north-east, West Sussex, Coventry and Warwickshire, Bristol, West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester will all benefit from the improvements.
The new technology has the potential to allow hospitals to share HD quality graphics of medical scans in seconds to improve diagnosis speeds.
It will also allow more pupils in schools to access educational videos at the same time, while businesses will be able to connect with their customers more efficiently.
The initiative is the first stage of a £200m programme to roll out the technology across the country, which was unveiled by Chancellor Philip Hammond during the Spring Budget.
Last night, the news was welcomed by a north-east MP.
Andrew Bowie, who represents West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine at Westminster, said: “This is fantastic news and I am delighted that Aberdeenshire is to be one of the very few areas in the whole of the UK to benefit from this in the first stage of a £200million project.
“Improving broadband coverage and speed was one of the first topics that my north east Scottish Conservative colleagues and I raised after the general election.
“We made the points during a meeting with the Minister for Digital, Matt Hancock, that parts of Aberdeenshire in particular were lagging behind the rest of Scotland, never mind the UK.
“Indeed, I have campaigned for some areas like Garlogie, where residents have struggled to access broadband at all.”
