Homes and businesses across Cupar are being offered the chance to connect to a new broadband service that promises ‘up to gigabit-capable speeds’ of connection.

The service – being rolled out across a number of areas – is being delivered by partners behind the UK & Scotland’s only Digital Improvement District, the award-winning CuparNow.

The first step sees a community registration site that’s being launched for Cupar and its rural catchment, giving residents and businesses the opportunity to express their interest in ‘ultra-fast broadband‘.

Richard Watson of Destination Digital says: ‘Everyone should be aware of ‘super-fast’. It has been the broadband industry’s standard for a decade, delivering around 30Mbps.’ Richard adds: ‘Many have access to this, but hundreds of thousands of addresses across Scotland are still unable to connect at this basic speed. We want to help, and we have the expertise and technology to do so.’

Simon Baldwin of Destination Digital explains: ‘Our company has unrivaled experience in digital communication and infrastructure. This new offering is based on our research and understanding of the need for improved digital connectivity … a need that has been highlighted as never before by the restrictions all have faced through 2020’s challenges.’

The new service recognises the increased demand for bandwidth and, as a result, will deliver 30Mbps – upload and download – as the most basic offering.

Simon adds: ‘Gigabit-capable broadband is the ‘next generation’. Working with our partners who are at the cutting edge of the world’s broadband technology, we hope to deliver unrivaled support for homes and businesses across Cupar and the surrounding countryside. The first step is to assess the demand – hence the registration stage.‘

Register now …

Homes and businesses can register their interest on the portal created exclusively for the purpose. The site will be live for three months, giving everyone across the area the chance to engage.

Richard Watson adds: ‘The reason so many homes and businesses have such poor connectivity is because they’ve fallen through the cracks of various programmes. It has not been economically viable to connect them – until now. We have the technology that makes it possible, not only ensuring they have the industry standard, but also exploring how we can offer significantly faster speeds of connectivity for both download and upload.’

Richard explains that most services have focused on download speeds, saying: ‘That is only one side of the coin. At one time, it was all about what you can download. Today, we are all spending more time online – whether for work, for studying or for leisure. All of these require us to upload content. That’s been a very slow process for too many. Our service changes that. We will be focusing on significantly improved upload speeds across the network.’

The three-month registration process will be followed by an evaluation in January. Destination Digital will act for and on behalf of those who have registered to ensure available funding can be accessed to optimise delivery.

Richard concludes: ‘Many addresses are eligible for funding support. For an individual home or business owner, pursuing this can be a very drawn out and time-consuming process – and all are acting independently or, at best, as small clusters of properties. By registering with us, we can act for and on behalf of all across the area to access and aggregate the funding. If the interest and demand is there, we will then create an unrivaled broadband network that will best support the whole community.’

Communication with all those registering will be ongoing to ascertain demand and to ensure as many homes and businesses as possible benefit.