Ofcom reveals NL is connected

Cumbernauld and Kilsyth's MP Stuart McDonald has praised the Scottish Government for ensuring the increased roll-out of superfast broadband in North Lanarkshire.

New figures released by Ofcom show North Lanarkshire has among the highest rates of coverage in Scotland.

Coverage in the local authority area prior to the Scottish Government’s intervention through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme was at 84.2 per cent in 2012.

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Following this action the percentage of premises with access to fibre broadband in North Lanarkshire is now 97.1 per cent, this is just behind West Dunbartonshire with 97.9 per cent and Clackmannanshire with 97.2 per cent.

The Scottish target to meet 100 per cent coverage is 2021, with many urban areas already approaching this level.

According to Ofcom rural areas have benefitted most from the programme with Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles going from zero per cent in 2012 to all being over 60 per cent.

The target of 95 per cent coverage across the country is on now track to be met by the end of this year.

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Mr McDonald said: “Without this Scottish Government investment, North Lanarkshire and Scotland would still be much further back in terms of progress when it comes to superfast broadband.

“The facts show the Scottish Government has played a key role in securing superfast broadband for more people and businesses across North Lanarkshire.

“But of course, there is lots of hard work ahead to finish the job. The Scottish Government having set an ambitious but very welcome target to continue this rapid improvement - and the 100 per cent superfast broadband coverage target on course to be met by 2021.”

Meanwhile, a street in North Lanarkshire has been named as having the fastest broadband in the UK.

Data collected by uSwitch.com shows Benford Avenue in Newarthill saw average speeds peak at 177.009Mbps over the past 12 months