Over 2000 homes and businesses in Forres should now be able to upgrade their internet connections to new superfast technology – but others might need to wait a while longer.
The £2.5billion roll-out of fibre-optic broadband to Moray communities that has already seen homes in Buckie and Elgin upgraded in recent months continued in Forres this week with 2,320 homes and businesses now able to connect to the service.
It is expected that figure will increase to 5450 as engineers complete connections to local communication cabinets in the next few weeks.
The move was welcomed last night by the chairman of Moray Council’s economic development and infrastructure committee, who said: “Superfast fibre broadband in Forres offers huge benefits to local residents and businesses and will help our economy to flourish.
“Better, faster communications help businesses to grow and stimulate job creation while the arrival of fibre broadband means local people and firms can do more online at faster speeds and on multiple devices.
“This is great news for many people in Forres and I look forward to fibre broadband being rolled out across the rest of Moray.”
However, local residents in some areas are being warned not to expect immediate connection when informed by a BT Openreach website that it is available.
Customers searching for information on the roll-out in their area on the Openreach website are learning that when the site informs them that the service is ‘Accepting Orders’ they are then told by service providers that this is not the case.
While the Lossiemouth exchange was completed several months ago and the website indicates that orders are being accepted local customers have found that this is not the case.
A spokesman explained: “The website does indicate to the public when their local exchange has been upgraded for fibre-optic broadband services and is available to industry providers.
“However, that indication covers only the local exchange – further work has to be undertaken on the network of local cabinets that connect homes to the exchange.
“This can often take several months to complete and even then there is no guarantee that customers will be close enough to a cabinet that enables them to access fibre-optic broadband.”