News / Debate on rural broadband
THE LACK of broadband in many rural areas will be discussed in the House of Commons later this month after Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael secured a debate on the issue.
The Liberal Democrat politician said no or slow broadband remained a reality for many of his constituents.
“While the roll out so far has seen some improvement in some areas in Orkney and Shetland, there are still many areas where there is slow or no broadband,” he said,
“The UK and Scottish Governments have invested significant amounts of money in superfast broadband rollout, but the impact of that has not met expectations.
“We need to get away from the idea of leaving the ‘hard rural areas’ until last.
“As one of my constituents put it at the last Northern Isles Digital Forum in Shetland, in her years of experience working in the NHS, if they left the difficult patients until last, then most of her patients would have died.”
The debate will take place on Tuesday 21 February.
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