BT's investment in super-fast broadband set to give the Highlands a massive boost
BT’s investment in super-fast broadband is expected to give the Highlands a massive boost, creating thousands of new jobs and start-up businesses in the next 15 years, a new report reveals today.
The report, by Regeneris Consulting, predicts the high-speed technology is capable of contributing hundreds of millions pounds to the local economy.
It will allow existing firms to operate more efficiently and to develop new products and services and make it easier for new businesses to get started through increasing use of innovations, such as cloud computing.
The report predicts that over the next 15 years BT’s super-fast broadband investment could give the economy of a typical town a £143 million* boost, create 225 new jobs and 140 new start-up businesses, whilst for a typical city the figures are expected to be £296 million, around 430 new jobs and 320 business start-ups.
There is also expected to be a big surge in flexible and home working. The report says that the high-speed technology could result in about 1,000 more homeworkers in a typical town and around 1,500 in a city.
BT’s £2.5 billion roll-out of super-fast broadband across the UK has already made the technology available to more than 270,000 Scottish homes and businesses, and this figure is expected to reach around 836,000 by Spring 2013.
The Regeneris report also examines the wider impact of BT in the Borders through direct employment, expenditure with contractors and suppliers and the spending of its employees.
It shows that BT last year gave the Highland economy a £39 million boost and was responsible for the employment of 465 people. BT’s activities also supported more than 620 local jobs through spending with suppliers and the expenditure of its employees.
The overall beneficial financial impact of BT activities in the Highlands is expressed as a "Gross Value Added" (GVA)* contribution with last year’s BT GVA amounting to £39 million.
Brendan Dick, director of BT Scotland, said: "This report demonstrates the great benefits that BT’s activities, including its major investment in super-fast broadband, are delivering for the Highlands – and will continue to deliver in the years to come.
"BT is playing a vital role in Scotland’s prosperity and well-being from the massive economic boost provided by our activities, to the 9,500 hours of volunteering activity carried out by BT’s people right across Scotland.
"BT’s plans to roll-out next generation broadband across Scotland are already well under way. But we want to go further and would very much welcome the opportunity to have an even bigger impact on the local economy by working with the public sector to make the high-speed technology available in its more challenging areas.
"It is vital that we continue to grow and help our customers, stakeholders and employees to thrive as we work together to create a more prosperous Scotland."