Government funding of Broadband in PH16 postcode area: FOI release

Information requested

1) Please provide any correspondence or meeting minutes or similar relating to any application for public funding or payment of or awarding of grants, subsidies or similar payments, to any telecom or broadband supplier, specifically including but not limited to BT, Openreach and ScotNet, with regard to the provision of “Full Fibre” or “Fibre to the Premises” broadband services in Duff Avenue, Craiglunie Road or Baledmund Road or adjacent premises in postcode area PH16 5EN which is part of the village of Moulin and adjacent to Pitlochry, Perthshire.

2) Please provide details of any claim by any telecom or broadband supplier, specifically including but not limited to BT, Openreach and ScotNet, in regard to “Premises Passed” in the context of “Full Fibre” or “Fibre to the Premises” broadband services in Duff Avenue, or adjacent premises in postcode area PH16 5EN.

Please note that for the purposes of this FOI request the term “adjacent premises” specifically includes but is not limited to the entries in Openreach’s records as “Street Cabinet in field off Duff Avenue, Moulin, PH16 5EN” and “Floor Gnd-Room Com, Street Cabinet in field off Duff Avenue, Moulin, PH16 5EN".

Response

While the online checker at www.scotlandsuperfast.com does report data at an individual premises level, we only hold data on funding for individual premises if they have been connected via the R100 Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme (R100 SBVS). In this instance none of the addresses within the PH16 5EN postcode area have utilised a R100 SBVS voucher to secure a broadband connection and therefore there is no information to provide regarding your first query on funding in the area.

However, from our records, we understand that there are 36 properties within the PH16 5EN postcode area – including Duff Avenue, Craiglunie Road and Baledmund Road – which received fibre broadband connections through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme.

Of those 36 properties, 9 received Fibre to the Premises (FTTP) connections and 27 received Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) connections. As DSSB was a national deployment programme, we are unable to provide a breakdown of funding by postcode area.

In response to a clarification question which was sent on 10 January 2023 you confirmed that you were seeking information related to the construction and funding of a mast at the end of Duff Avenue. It is our understanding that this mast, which delivers fixed wireless access services, was built by ScotNet utilising vouchers through the R100 SBVS. Suppliers can claim up to £5,000 per premises for connections delivered through the R100 SBVS scheme. The amount funded by R100 SBVS to deliver the project was £45,000 excluding VAT. The £45,000 covers the totality of cost, including network devices, radio links, cabling, masts, routers, labour, and travel.

However, it is also our understanding that, at present, no properties within PH16 5EN are being served by this mast. It may be possible for properties within that postcode area to receive a connection commercially from the mast, but this would require property owners and/or tenants to contact Scotnet directly.

The areas that have properties receiving coverage as a result of the mast at the end of Duff Avenue are Tulliemet in Pitlochry, the village of Ballinluig, Dalguise in Dunkeld, and areas in Pitlochry on the other side of River Tummel.

There are two other telecommunications radio links attached to the mast which we believe are Point to Point links, that each send connectivity direct to a single property, and are part of Scotnet’s commercial activity, and were not funded by the R100 SBVS.

We monitor commercial build across Scotland through a rolling Open Market Review (OMR). An OMR is a survey through which broadband infrastructure suppliers provide details of existing and planned build over the next three years. This allows us to determine whether or not a property is eligible for funding through the R100 SBVS.

We use Ordnance Survey’s AddressBase in order to identify properties which might require a broadband connection. In your enquiry you requested information relating to two ‘adjacent premises’ - “Street Cabinet in field off Duff Avenue, Moulin, PH16 5EN” and “Floor Gnd-Room Com, Street Cabinet in field off Duff Avenue, Moulin, PH16 5EN” - however it has not been possible for us to provide information related to those premises as they do not feature in AddressBase as properties that we would consider eligible for a broadband connection.

I hope that this information meets your requirements. However, a member of the Digital Connectivity team would be happy to discuss this issue further with you. If you believe that this would be helpful, could you please send details of availability, and a contact telephone number, to digitalconnectivity@gov.scot and we will make the arrangements for a conversation to take place.

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