Jamie McGrigor MSP - speech on Rural Broadband

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): I congratulate my good friend Murdo Fraser on bringing to the chamber today's extremely important debate and on prompting the Government to send an e-mail this afternoon to tell us of 71 upgrades, the first of which will be finished by March 2010. I thought that that e-mail might pre-empt my speech but, having looked at the list, I see that it does not include any of the exchanges that I am going to complain about.

The minister will be aware, as the constituency MSP for Argyll and Bute and from the repeated correspondence that he has had with members such as me, that there are far too many rural communities in the Highlands and Islands that still receive an inferior service and poorer value for money in comparison with their urban equivalents.

One constituent in rural Argyll told me this week that she is paying a whopping £40.54 per month for broadband through Avanti, which she finds does not work half the time. When she rings Avanti to complain, the company tells her that, because it is raining either in London or in Argyll—which is quite often—the satellite is not working. Furthermore, she receives no refund for any lack of service, she is bound into a minimum one-year contract, and even when the system is working it is often so slow that sometimes the service times out before things download.

Watching BBC iPlayer, which people in the cities take for granted, can be a frustrating experience that leaves people tearing their hair out. That is surely unacceptable, and sadly—judging from my mailbag—such an occurrence is not an isolated case. I am led to believe that the cheapest Avanti option is £23.50 per month, which is much more expensive than many of the competitive city broadband packages and an amount that means that the package is out of reach for many people on low incomes. Indeed, the fact that the uptake of Avanti broadband by those who previously indicated an interest is only around 50 per cent suggests that cost is putting people off.

Another constituent in Argyll tells me that, despite the fact that he lives only 100m from the BT exchange, his broadband provider can only give him 2 megabits per second. His neighbour, who is with a different provider and thus uses a different line from the exchange, can get 8 megabits per second. Such inconsistency understandably annoys and dismays people; they just feel conned.

I will briefly mention the continuing and passionate campaign of my constituents in Northbay on the island of Barra to secure a better broadband service for their community than the one that is currently provided by the connected communities broadband network, which is owned and managed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise. My constituents on Barra continue to make the case to me that the con com wireless solution has just not worked for them; they want the local BT exchange to be upgraded. One of my constituents said to me, "What kind of con is con com?"

My constituents in the rural and island parts of my region want efforts redoubled to secure affordable, fast and reliable broadband for all. That must mean working with BT and urging it at every opportunity to renew and upgrade the BT telephone exchanges. I am glad that 71 exchanges are being upgraded, but there are still many more. Upgrading the exchanges will enable BT to cope with the demand that exists in communities throughout rural Scotland.

BT seems to be saving money by getting rid of rural telephone boxes, which it says there is no longer any need for. The upgrading of rural exchanges is a new, modern need that BT can fulfil, and I hope that the Government will encourage it to do so.