The governments of Scotland and Ireland are promising their rural constituents they will have an absolute guarantee of access to broadband within the next 3-5 years, regardless of where they live.

Ministers at Holyrood have issued a Prior Information Notice on Public Contracts Scotland to lay the foundation for rural broadband expansion by describing the scope of the project for the benefit of potential partners that may wish to bid for a contract. Scotland has achieved 85% coverage six months ahead of the target date, with many of the biggest challenges to reach isolated properties still ahead.

The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Connectivity Fergus Ewing told the media there is more work to be done to guarantee every rural home in Scotland is connected.

“We are putting digital connectivity at the heart of our agenda and delivering 100% superfast broadband for Scotland by the end of the next Parliament is one of our priorities,” Ewing said.

Naughten

In Ireland, skepticism has met the claims of Communications Minister Denis Naughten’s claim that every single home in Ireland will have access to reliable, high-speed internet within the next five years.

Today (2pm EDT), the minister is holding a live broadcast through Facebook to take questions about his commitment from communities across rural Ireland. Critics suggest it will be hard for those without internet access to share that fact with the minister when the event is taking place on a website they cannot easily access.

“Most people don’t believe that this National Broadband Plan is real. I can’t blame them. I was as big a cynic as everyone else in relation to it,” said Naughten. “As I said to the team in the department, we will under-promise and over-deliver, because I am sick and tired of promises being made, and (the government’s) failing on it.”

Naughten claims the “vast majority” of rural Ireland will be connected within three years. The last two years will be reserved to tackle the hardest cases.

“You are going to be dealing with peripheral areas – the sides of mountains, isolated rural valleys, and so forth – so it will take time to get to those particular locations,” he said.