Superfast Slowdown: Delayed upgrades threaten Scotland's broadband Revolution

The issues are especially apparent in Scotland because of the high number of remote locations which need upgrading. Problems start when clients tempted by the £3000 voucher to install superfast find out their area’s exchange hasn’t yet been fitted with the fiber-optic cables needed to handle the higher speeds. In lieu of the delay, the supplier offers to lease the client a dedicated line at around £300 to £400 a month – and waives the £3000 installation costs if they enter into a 3 year contract.

But, since the existing line is still only capable of delivering lower speeds, in order to meet the requirements of the superfast voucher programme (24Mbps and higher), a line upgrade is required – which means charging more than the standard £400 a month for the lease. Leased lines do have advantages: they offer clients quick support and maintenance options and none of the asymmetry of ADSL – in which upload speeds often drop to around 1MB or below. Those advantages tend to benefit larger organisations and, in any case, are hardly a consolation if you thought you’d be getting superfast speeds at lower cost.

One of our clients operating out of a Dundee industrial estate has a 20MB broadband connection running at an average of 9MB. After contacting BT, they were told their exchange hadn’t yet been upgraded and there was no indication when it would be. Their choice now is to stick with their slow, asymmetric connection – or pay much more for a leased line. Under the current situation there’s no reason for SMEs to enter into a superfast contract, whether or not the £3000 connection cost is waived: the financial rewards all go to the supplier. To put this all into perspective, here’s a comparison of the accumulated costs of a BT Infinity Premium connection with a funding-eligible ‘superfast’ leased line, over three years: