Glenorchy and Innishail is in the 10% of most deprived areas in Scotland in terms of access to services. In our recent community survey poor broadband was identified as a key issue of concern and a priority for action.
A further survey has been carried out by volunteers to establish the exact position across the area. Results are still interim but identify that:
• Access is completely variable across the area.
• There are complete ‘not spots’ from Auch to Clashgour (excluding Bridge of Orchy) and Cladich to Portsonachan and settlements south-west along the B840. Most of the connections in these areas rely on poor and expensive satellite provision.
• There are three cabinets in Lochawe village with residents reporting speeds of up to 66 mps
• There is one cabinet in Dalmally located in the old village and speeds are reasonable if relatively close to this.
• In Glenview, Stronmilchan and other areas outside the old village in Dalmally speeds, via a telephone line, reduce to less than 5mbs and people experience buffering and sudden drops in speed at peak times.
• Many people in these areas and in Glen Orchy are using 4G for broadband access. This works well if premises are in sight of a mast but there have been issues in recent months with reliability and slow repairs. In some places (e.g. Succoth) the 4G signal is weak and is of limited benefit. In Cladich and Ardbrecknish 4G is unavailable.
An analysis of the data is attached.
Impact
Local business/ economy
Many connections in the not spot areas are commercial. Land Managers seeking online auctions for livestock, parts for machinery, animal feed etc. Accommodation providers across the whole area report issues with business promotion, online booking and visitor expectations re access to wifi and streaming services. This is a serious impediment to local businesses and the local economy.
The area is generally excluded from the ‘flexication’ (work/holiday combined) sector which has become popular post-covid. This requires a broadband service to enable one or more to continue working without interruption, while other members of the family or party are staying in the area on holiday. Our speeds and bandwidth are just not good enough and this severely restricts the ability of our tourism businesses to compete for this business.
Home working/ schooling
An increasing number of people across the area are working from home and require access to reasonable speeds to access files and participate in online teams/ zoom calls. Several respondents report not being able to have more than one person in the household on a call at the same time and those needing to work with large files e.g. landscape architects/ film makers/ photographers are hampered in their work.
During lockdown families have had to adjust to home schooling. One mother in one of the ‘not spots’ has been spending £75 per month to buy sufficient bandwidth to provide this via Satellite.
Health/well-being
The local GP surgery reports issues with accessing patients’ files which can have a direct health impact. Communication is key to rural mental health and well-being and people across the area can struggle to access online classes, support groups, online learning etc, not to mention entertainment/ games regarded as an essential part of life in other parts of Scotland. Given the absence of terrestrial TV across large parts of the area, fast internet connections are required for on demand and catch-up TV services.
Access to vital supplies
Online shopping is not just new yoga pants, we need access to food deliveries, pharmacy and vet supplies without traveling for hours. We can’t do this here.
What we need
Several survey respondents identified lack of connectivity as the single greatest reason to move away from the area. Repeated comments in the survey identify the need for a ‘faster’, ‘more modern’, ‘reliable’ ‘stable’ and ‘affordable’ service. This is not a big ask in a modern country. Retaining and attracting population to our communities is a key priority and to do this we need support to:
• Clarify how our area will be covered by the R100 programme and in what timescale.
• Clarify what plans there are to address ‘not spots’ in Glenorchy and Innishail – Auch to Clashgour and Cladich, Ardbrecknish, Portsonachen and settlements to the south-west along the B840, and in what timescale.
• Highlight that the voucher scheme is not working for areas such as ours and fails to cover the costs especially where satellite is the only viable current option. In particular, to include ‘Starlink’ in the voucher scheme, from which it is excluded at present. Starlink is about to launch in the UK after extensive trials in America. It offers latency of circa 30ms and speeds in excess of 100mbps, coupled with an uncapped service.
• Carry out an options appraisal to the development of a community scheme where the existing infrastructure and plans fail to deliver. This has been attempted in Cladich. Openreach quoted £330,000 for a connection to the 20 plus premises, with potential for extension south-west along the B840 to reach at least as many houses and businesses. There are existing cable ducts to the area, currently carrying copper telephone lines. Openreach seem unaware of these and refused to discuss the detailed breakdown of their quotation, even after a complaint was made to Offcom. It would appear that, as a monopoly provider, Openreach are determined not to bother with connections to outlying areas.
01.09.2021
