19 April 2007

Scotland's Highlands and Islands, encompassing some of the most remote locations in the UK, will now be provided with broadband Internet access, according to reports.

Thanks to a joint Highlands and Islands Broadband Pathfinder Project between the Scottish executive, six local authorities and Mason Communications, schools libraries and public offices will be connected, Publictechnology.net reports.

The initiative's targets were to provide every primary school with access speeds of four megabits per second and eight megabit connections for secondary schools - affecting 400 locations.

John Grieve, Pathfinder Project Manager, commented that the project will provide "leading-edge telecommunication technology to our schools, libraries and all major public offices and will transform the way we work and how we deliver the highest quality services to local people".

The project, when launched in 2005, had a targeted completion date of 2008 with £70 million earmarked for its provision.

© Adfero Ltd

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