Premises in West Kilbride and Wemyss Bay can now upgrade to faster fibre broadband through the £428 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband rollout.

Thanks to the programme, more premises across the west coast are now able to connect to the Digital Scotland network,

Work is ongoing, with Openreach engineers continuing work on the ground into 2019. Across Scotland, nearly 920,000 premises are now able to connect to fibre broadband through the programme.

Some of the latest local properties passed can now connect to the most reliable and fastest residential broadband available as engineers build more Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) to help harder-to-reach homes join the digital revolution.

FTTP is capable of delivering the fastest residential broadband speeds in the UK – up to 1Gbps* – about 23 times faster than the current UK average of 46Mbps.

Local people need to sign up for the new, faster services with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic.

Delivered through two projects – led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in its area and the Scottish Government in the rest of Scotland – funding partners include the UK Government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), BT Group, local authorities and the EU via the European Regional Development Fund.

Whether you own a business, work from home or want to keep in touch with friends and family, fibre broadband enables multiple users to connect to the internet at high speeds. Most of the Digital Scotland deployment uses Fibre-to-the-Cabinet (FTTC) technology, at speeds of up to 80Mbps*.

Councillor Alex Gallagher, Cabinet Member for Economy, North Ayrshire Council said: “I welcome more investment in North Ayrshire's digital infrastructure. I know how important this is for local businesses and communities who want to have good quality and reliable digital connections.

"It also reassuring to investors and house buyers who look for superfast broadband in a place before they make key decisions. This all helps ensure that North Ayrshire is positioning itself as an attractive place for business and investment."