Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Communities in Angus ‘left behind’ as broadband speeds slated

Significant steps are being taken to improve broadband access across Scotland but for many communities the roll-out remains too slow.
Significant steps are being taken to improve broadband access across Scotland but for many communities the roll-out remains too slow.

Families and businesses in Angus are struggling with some of the worst broadband speeds in Scotland.

Speed checks carried out before new rights are introduced next year revealed almost half of homes in the area do not meet the legal minimum of 10 megabits per second (Mbps).

Low speeds create problems for businesses and can see households disadvantaged compared to other parts of the country.

Consumer body Which carried out almost 400 speed checks in Angus, discovering only 52% of homes met the legal benchmark.

This puts Angus in the bottom 10 in the country, joined by Perth and Kinross, Banff and Buchan and Dumfries and Galloway, among others.

Angus MP Kirstene Hair, Conservative, said communities in Angus are being “left behind”.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The Courier newsletter


“These figures are a stark reminder of how much work still needs to be done to improve broadband speeds in Angus,” she said.

“It is completely unacceptable that barely half of homes in in my constituency are getting decent broadband speeds, while in some areas the figures is as high as 79%.

“Because of the way in which the Scottish Government designed their superfast broadband roll out, providers inevitably connected the easier to reach properties in the central belt, leaving places like ours behind.

“Residents outside the main towns cannot wait for the Scottish Government to get its act together, residents and businesses need decent connectivity sooner rather than later.”

Dominic Hughes, 34, owner of MòR Beers in Kellas, said his internet is slow.

“Not being able to reach certain speeds can be frustrating,” he said.

The craft ale brewer said his provider advised he was unlikely to get access to fibre, meaning he would pay for faster speeds he was unable to access.

“This can be restrictive for local businesses,” he added.

A Scottish Government spokesman criticised the study for failing to include the results of its recent Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) programme –  though the Which study is thought to better reflect the speeds users actually experience.

He said: “We have concerns about the robustness of the data.

“In Angus alone, superfast coverage, at speeds of 30 megabits per second or better, has increased from 58.8% in January 2014, when Scotland’s £400 million DSSB deployment began, to 87.5% by February 2019.”