Moray MSP Richard Lochhead is urging communications companies EE and Openreach to expedite the completion of a new 4G mast at Glenlivet, which would provide fast mobile connectivity in an area with slow internet connectivity.
With the ‘Stay at home’ message now in place, the lack of connectivity makes online learning for children in the area especially challenging and it also prevents households from accessing services such as home delivery of groceries.
Mr Lochhead has been in contact with the communications companies who have confirmed that the mast is essentially complete and awaiting final power and fibre connections before it is turned on.
February
He said: “Just before Christmas I received confirmation that the completion of the mast is imminent with an expected date of February for the service to be running. Although it is positive that this connectivity is going to be made available, the community had expected the connection to be activated well before now. With the stay-at-home Covid restrictions now in place there is added urgency and I am pushing EE and Openreach for that date to be accelerated if at all possible.
“With online learning being used till at least the end of January and people being encouraged to use home delivery services for food and other items, the importance of getting these new connections in place has never been more pressing.
“The investment in the network is clearly very welcome but, especially in the current circumstances, the quicker the service can go live, the better. I have raised these issues directly with Openreach and EE and have asked that they do all they can to try and bring the connection date forward.”