Upgrade planned for rural Scottish telephone exchanges

Several dozen BT telephone exchanges in rural areas of Scotland are to benefit from upgrades totalling £3 million in a bid to boost local broadband speeds, reports the BBC.

Rural communities throughout the UK are struggling with broadband connectivity as high speeds depend partly on proximity to a telephone exchange, but services from around 50 sites in Scotland could be improved to offer faster download times and more efficient VoIP solutions.

The UK government plans to supply every home with a connection of at least two megabits per second by 2012, but this will be hardest to deliver in remote communities.

Finance secretary John Swinney told the BBC: "After exploring the many challenges with BT, we are pleased that a way forward has been found allowing an exchange upgrade programme to take place."

He added the development shows the government is keen to address the issues faced by web users in rural towns and villages.

BT is spending £1.5 billion on providing next-generation broadband networks throughout the UK.