Please read the letter below which was received by the Community Council from the Scottish Government’s R100 Evaluation Team. The R100 programme provides funding to upgrade broadband throughout Scotland.

For background: Most of Strathdearn already has the best broadband available. This was achieved by a variety of means including financial contributions and DIY cable-burying by some householders, voucher schemes. and some grant aid. There was no contribution from Scot Gov’s R100 funding.

Properties in Strathdearn still waiting for a broadband upgrade are mostly in the north of Tomatin. This work will be funded by Scot Gov’s R100 scheme. A preliminary survey was carried out last autumn by a company called Circet, on behalf of Openreach. No firm date was given for the fibre cables to be installed but we expect it to be in 2025. We can help ourselves in this regard by filling in the survey linked below, emphasising our very poor connection speeds and how long we’ve been waiting. This may prompt Openreach to bump us up their schedule. It can’t do any harm! It would be helpful if as many of you as possible respond to the survey, and particularly householders in the north of the village, before the deadline of 3 March.

The Scottish Government is investing in broadband infrastructure in your area through its Reaching 100% (R100) programme and we’re keen to get your support to help gather feedback.

The £600+ million programme is extending access to faster broadband to sub-30 Megabits per second homes and businesses who are unlikely to receive upgrades through commercial plans. You can find out more about R100 at: gov.scot/digitalconnectivity.

To understand whether and how households and organisations have benefited from R100, the Scottish Government is undertaking an evaluation of the programme. As part of this, we are surveying households and organisations who:

  1. Are scheduled to receive broadband access via R100 but have not yet been connected
  2. Have been provided with broadband access via R100 and have taken up the connection
  3. Have been provided with broadband access via R100 but have not taken up the connection

The surveys are available online and can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/R100Evaluation or by scanning this QR code:

The surveys are only open to properties covered by the R100 programme. If a property is covered by the programme, the associated address will come up as an option when the property postcode is entered by the survey respondent.

Our ask of you

In a bid to reach as many residents as possible, we’re asking if you – as the local Community Council for the area – would you be able to help promote the survey in the local community by sharing the link and QR code via email and social media.

We’ve also attached a poster advertising the survey. We’d really appreciate it if you were able to display this across the community.

The deadline for all survey responses is currently 3 March 2025.

If you have any questions, please contact: R100Evaluation@stantec.com.

Thank you for any assistance you’re able to provide.

Best wishes,

R100 Evaluation Team