GoFibre Starts Project Gigabit Broadband Build for North East Scotland | ISPreview UK

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Edinburgh-based UK network operator GoFibre, which is deploying a full fibre (FTTP) network across remote rural parts of Scotland and Northern England, has today announced that they’ve begun the build phase of their £105m (public subsidy) Project Gigabit contract to cover 63,000 hard-to-reach premises in North East Scotland (100k if you include their commercial build).

The contract itself was officially awarded back in July 2025 (here) and GoFibre have since been busy conducting engineering surveys, which has today been followed by the start of street works. Rural residents in parts of seven local authorities – Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Angus, Dundee, Highland, Moray and Perth & Kinross – are set to benefit by conclusion.

NOTE: GoFibre, which is supported by private funding of £289m from Gresham House, Hamburg Commercial Bank and the SNIB (here and here), has so far covered 126,000 premises (RFS) across over 30 “local areas” in rural Scotland and Northern England. But they’re also attached to £145m (state aid) in Project Gigabit contracts (here, here, here and here).

This major infrastructure investment is expected to unlock economic growth and create 30 local jobs directly during build, with up to 180 jobs created across the lifetime of contract, including through subcontractors. The first areas to see network build start, this month are: Stonehaven, St Cyrus, Laurencekirk, Auchenblae, Letham Angus and Longforgan.

The initial work will expand GoFibre’s existing network of around 10,000 premises in Aberdeenshire (in Laurencekirk, Stonehaven and Newtonhill) and around 15,000 premises in Angus (Montrose, Forfar and Kirriemuir).

Neil Conaghan, CEO of GoFibre, said:

“We know how frustrating unreliable broadband can be, whether you’re trying to run a business, help your kids with homework or just stream a film without it buffering. This project is all about changing that.

As a company with its roots firmly in Scotland, we are incredibly proud to begin construction in the North East. We’re bringing faster speeds right to people’s front doors, and we can’t wait to see the difference it makes. It’s going to open up opportunities and make everyday life easier. Best of all, we’re doing it while creating jobs and investing in the communities we serve, because this is home for us too.”

Assuming the original plan holds, then the first connections are due to go live by Summer 2026. The operator currently expects to deploy their new full fibre based broadband network to reach a UK footprint of 250,000 premises “in the next 3 years“ (i.e. around mid-2028) and they were home to a total of around 15,000 customers as of June 2025.

New customers of the service can currently expect to pay from £12.50 per month (first 6 months only, then £40.37) for speeds of 150Mbps (30Mbps upload) on a 24-month minimum term, which rises to £19.50 (£75.59 after 6 months) for their top 1000Mbps (100Mbps upload) tier. Take note that monthly prices also increase by £3 each December and £200 of Switching Credit is available for those looking to migrate while still stuck in an existing contract with another ISP.

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