Scottish Highlands & Islands – Availability, Adoption and the Uses

of Broadband Internet Access

Ewan Sutherland* & Jason Whalley**

*University of Witwatersrand & University of Namur**Northumbria University

Outline

• Highlands & Islands• Aspirations for the region• Broadband• Lessons from elsewhere in the British Isles• Conclusions

Highlands & Islands

Council Pop Homes Area (km2)

Pop density

Argyll & Bute

89,590 41,775 6,909 12.97

Highland 222,370 102,736 25,659 8.67

Moray 87,260 39,474 2,238 38.99

Orkney Isles

20,160 9,368 990 20.36

Shetland Isles

22,500 9,928 1,466 15.35

Western Isles

26,080 12,208 3,071 8.49

Total 467,960 215,489 33,431 14.00

Source: Scottish Government (2012), GROS (2012)

Employment by local authority area, 2011

Council Employment Under-employment

Economic inactivity

Public Private Total Per cent

Argyll & Bute 13,500 25,000 4,200 12,300 23.6%

Highland 33,100 78,900 11,500 24,700 17.9%

Moray 10,700 32,800 2,900 9,900 18.2%

Orkney Isles 3,600 6,800 - 2,000 15.8%

Shetland Isles 4,600 7,300 - 2,500 17.9%

Western Isles 4,600 6,000 1,200 4,900 30.4%

Total 70,100 156,800 19,800 56,300 -

Scotland 669,800 242,600 204,000 783,500 23.0%

Source: Scottish Government (2012)

Highlands & Islands Enterprise: ‘Ambitions for growth’

Adoption of ICT in Scotland

Fixed landline Mobile phone Broadband Smartphone0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

UK Scotland - all Scotland - urban Scotland - rural

Source: Ofcom (2012)

Households with / without broadband in 2011 by urban/rural classifications

Large urban areas

Other urban areas

Accessible small towns

Remote small towns

Accessible rural

Remote rural

Scotland

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Broadband No broadband

Source: Scottish Government (2012)

Rural broadband

HM Treasury Allocated £120m for rural broadband in Scotland Scottish Government directed this money towards H&IE

rather than the local authorities

Community Broadband Scotland £5m in funding from the Scottish Government Focused on helping initiatives in rural communities. Provides financial support and (some) informational resources

Completing the coverage mapVarious initiatives to improve coverage. E.g.:

Mobile Infrastructure Project: £150 million of UK funds

4G coverage obligation: one licence has a 95% coverage of the Scottish population

But No discussion of satellite Prominent position given to

technology trials serving a handful of people

Extract from broadband state aid maps showing grey and white zones

Adoption

Some information & skills provision, e.g.: Digital Highlands & Islands

ICT underpinned economic revival Substantial investment in call &

contact centres Home working Rural businesses use the

Internet, but owners lack a desire to grow these businesses

Lessons from elsewhere in the British Isles

Superfast Cornwall Established in 2010 to improve infrastructure within Cornwall £132m initial budget, from a variety of sources (ERDF, BT). Lessons: 1) focusing on the majority of homes 2) use of multiple

technologies 3) grants to encourage adoption

Republic of Ireland In 2008 Hutchison Whampoa awarded contract to provide broadband

those in rural Ireland without access Three parties funded the scheme: ERDF (€30m), government (€50m),

Hutchison 3G Ireland (€143m) Lessons: 1) swift implementation is possible 2) available and affordable

technology used 3) inclusion of ‘performance criteria’ in the contract

Conclusions

Distance and population densities result in the commercial provision of infrastructure being unviable

Assertions surrounding the ‘public good’ nature of broadband lack support

Nationalism/independence skews the debate London responds (or not) to Scottish demands UK policies ignored as Scottish ones are developed without

any legal foundation to do so Lessons not learnt from elsewhere in the British Isles

13

Contact details

Ewan SutherlandUniversity of Witwatersrand & University of Namur

sutherla@gmail.com

Jason WhalleyNewcastle Business School,Northumbria University,Newcastle NE1 8ST

Jason.whalley@northumbria.ac.uk