The Scottish Government enlisted the help of FarrPoint to provide specialist support on the Reaching 100% programme (R100). This project is ongoing and FarrPoint are the current technical advisors to the programme, continuing to provide specialist advice, covering complex technical and commercial activities.
The (this will open in a new window)R100 programme is the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide superfast broadband access - speeds of at least 30 Megabits per second (Mbps) - to every home and business in Scotland. FarrPoint has been supporting the (this will open in a new window)Scottish Government with broadband initiatives for many years and has supported the R100 programme since April 2017.
Good connectivity is essential for economic growth, increasing productivity and innovation, and for sustainable public services and environment. The increasing need for ubiquitous coverage of ever faster, better connectivity is clear, as increasingly sophisticated and innovative applications become available. These new services and applications are all underpinned by high quality connectivity infrastructure.
The Scottish Government is committed to enabling access to superfast broadband, recognising that digital connectivity is a key part of ensuring that Scotland fulfils its potential in a constantly evolving digital world, as set out in the (this will open in a new window)Digital Scotland Strategy. Working alongside commercial suppliers, the challenge is to determine where and how to best intervene to help fund areas which may not receive commercial cover. FarrPoint’s highly specialist consultancy team is assisting the Scottish Government with the delivery of this £600m intervention programme with ongoing technical advice and support.
During the early work of the R100 programme, it was important to develop an understanding of the UK infrastructure suppliers current and future network rollout plans. FarrPoint were procured by the Scottish Government to support the data specification and data gathering via Open Market Reviews (OMR) and Public Consultation. FarrPoint evaluated the network supplier responses to the R100 OMR.
In parallel to the these activities, FarrPoint assisted with creation of tender documentation and an evaluation methodology for the multiple procurements which would drive the resulting intervention. FarrPoint provided the technical and deliverability evaluations of the tender responses leading to contracts being awarded across three geographical areas, covering the North, Central and South of Scotland, which are expected to reach over 114,000 premises in total.
Connectivity is so important, and we're pleased to have worked on this project bringing the so-needed broadband services to Scotland's most remote and rural areas.
As the current technical advisors to the programme, FarrPoint continues to provide specialist advice to the Scottish Government, covering complex technical and commercial activities. As the R100 contracts are being delivered, attention turns to how to address remaining coverage gaps and the drive to gigabit connectivity across Scotland. FarrPoint’s cost modelling and extensive GIS mapping capabilities help to inform policy development and future action plans to help target any future public sector funding to accelerate the delivery of this most essential level of infrastructure across Scotland.
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