Ten years ago, many of the residents served by Kettleholm exchange, banded together to make a video about the endless faults and frustrations in telecommunications infrastructure and services.
Since then, the community have anticipated many supposed upgrades, but the underlying problems of distance from the exchange, old lines, and short-lasting repairs have been a constant difficulty.
Despite various initiatives to “improve” the situation, Middleshaw was still left with broadband dropping out and highly erratic or low broadband speeds.
Late in 2019, the residents of Middleshaw started working on a Community Fibre Partnership with Openreach, through the Rural Gigabit Voucher Scheme. Ten properties participated in the scheme, allowing the vouchers to cover the full cost of delivering Fibre To The Premises.
During lockdown 2020, and in full compliance with all Scottish Government Covid regulations, a Community Interest Company was formed to contract with Openreach.
At the start of April 2021, installation of the fibre infrastructure was completed, with FTTP going live for orders on 24th April, and first connections due within two weeks.
Local resident and named contact for the Partnership, Ruth Ritchie, said,
“Now, after a decade pursuing a reliable internet connection in a world where this has become a vital service, we finally have access to fast, stable, rural broadband. Trying to complete school or college work, attend meetings, or work from home and so on during lockdown, has been incredibly difficult with our old broadband, and many communities across Dumfries and Galloway are still struggling with this. We would like to encourage all rural communities suffering third world broadband, to pursue every avenue to deliver the same good connection, starting with Scottish Broadband Voucher Scheme | Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband The Scottish Government‘s R100 is another way to bring us all into the digital age, and we encourage everyone to engage with Digital Scotland and their local politicians too. We would also like to thank in particular, Joan McAlpine who has been supporting us throughout our journey, with many years of telecommunications problems, and also Erin from Oliver Mundell‘s office for her very informative correspondence.”
