West Kilbride can now upgrade to faster fibre broadband through the £442 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband rollout.

Thanks to the programme, more premises are able to connect to the new network, which has now arrived in West Kilbride.

Councillor Alex Gallagher, Cabinet Member for Economy, is pleased with the latest phase of the roll-out and said: "“Fast, reliable broadband connectivity is vital for our people to work, learn, play and thrive. That applies to residents and premises in smaller areas every bit as much as much as it does to those in our larger towns.

“Large numbers of homes and businesses can now upgrade via the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband programme, providing access to faster connections speeds that are crucial for growing our economy and enhancing the lives and lifestyles of our residents.

"“Residents need to sign up for a fibre service with their chosen provider as upgrades aren’t automatic and I would urge them to check the interactive map on the Digital Scotland website www.scotlandsuperfast.com to find out if they can get the service.”

Local people can check if the new fibre services are available to them at www.scotlandsuperfast.com/yourstreet

Thanks to additional investment as a result of innovation and new funding generated by stronger than expected take-up, engineers will continue to deliver new DSSB deployment in every local authority area during 2019 and into 2020, complementing ongoing commercial build across Scotland. More than 50 per cent of properties reached by the programme have switched to fibre broadband.

Sara Budge, Director of the broadband programme, said: “Local people need to sign up for the new, faster services with an internet service provider, as upgrades are not automatic.

“The difference having fibre broadband can make is amazing.

Many local people are already taking advantage of the faster speeds now available and we’d urge others to consider the benefits of a move to a fibre service.

“There’s lots of competition out there and people may find they could be surfing at much higher speeds at a similar cost to their current service.”