The Covid-19 crisis has underlined the critical importance of having good, affordable broadband – whether for children’s schooling, for home-working, for entertainment, or simply staying in touch with friends.

That’s why the Scottish Government’s R100 initiative – to reach 100% of the population with fit-for-purpose broadband – is so important.  And that’s why the decisions you and your community make now are so important.

And it is your decision, as the funding that has been made available by both the Scottish and UK Governments is essentially in your hands, in the form of vouchers to be used with the supplier that your community selects to deliver the upgraded broadband. Expect to hear from many suppliers over the next few weeks and months as they seek to make the most of the voucher schemes.

The stakes are high, and the wrong decision could be costly – so take your time! 

The easy decision for some will be to do nothing, and simply let the incumbent provider fulfil its contractual obligations to provide standard superfast broadband (30Mbps) by 2023 and beyond.

The better decision will be to look at alternatives: first, why settle for a mere 30Mbps, when you could have shiny, new fibre-to-the-premise (FTTP) that will be truly future-proof? And second, you should consider the choice of providers, of which there are many, including Broadway, many of whom, like Broadway, will offer more attractive packages with substantial monthly savings.

So the message is: don’t rush to commit to the first offer you receive, but check out the alternatives first.