Editorial pieces from WIRES plus pointers to consultations, council decisions, and programme changes.
Vodafone withdrew its £12/month Essentials tariff, raising its entry price to £20. Virgin Media's Essential Broadband at £12.50 is now the lowest verified social tariff on the market — a reminder that these deals and their prices shift, so it's worth checking before you apply.
Read article →The government-backed Shared Rural Network has switched on its 140th mobile mast, with 49 now live in Scotland — including a second site on Islay that restores signal from all four networks to an area that previously had none.
The government-backed Shared Rural Network switched on its 50th mobile mast in Scotland on the remote Ardnamurchan peninsula, extending all-four-operator 4G coverage across more than 1,900 square kilometres of rural Scotland — an area larger than Edinburgh and Glasgow combined.
The House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee is taking public evidence on broadband and mobile coverage in rural and island Scotland. Submissions are a direct way to get lived experience in front of policymakers.
In 2021, the Scottish Government pledged £200m to get 300,000 households online by 2026. That deadline has now passed. The money was never spent. There is still no strategy, no plan, and no named person responsible.
Scotland's £697m Reaching 100% programme has now connected more than 100,000 premises, though some north-of-Scotland contract areas are reportedly at risk of running past their original dates.
Independent auditors say the Scottish Government and COSLA have yet to set out a coherent action plan or clear ownership for tackling digital exclusion, despite it affecting more than a million people in Scotland.
Highland Community Broadband, a volunteer-founded wireless network serving remote Wester Ross since 2017, shut down at the end of April 2026 after larger-scale voucher schemes proved unworkable for a small operator.
After nine years connecting Ullapool, Highland Community Broadband shut down in April 2026. Rising costs did what commercial providers couldn't: ended a working community network. It is a lesson in what happens without structural policy support.
From Catalonia to New York City, volunteer and cooperative models demonstrate that connectivity can be built and governed differently.
Take-up of discounted broadband for people on benefits remains below 1 in 10 eligible households, Ofcom's 2026 pricing report found — even as more providers than ever offer one.
Ofcom's latest figures show 532,000 UK households using a social tariff. There are now 30+ options. And 70% of eligible people have never heard of any of them. That is not a communications problem. That is a policy failure.
Policy documents matter—but they need to be tested against what people experience in homes, tenements, and rural communities.
Access to affordable, reliable internet underpins work, learning, health information, and participation in public life.
The Scottish Government's R100 programme has now delivered faster broadband to over 100,000 homes and businesses. Progress worth noting — and an estimated 9% of Scottish households still without any internet connection worth noting more.
Scotland's own audit body examined delivery of the "No-One Left Behind" commitment and found one in six adults still digitally excluded, momentum stalled since the pandemic, and no published plan for what happens next. WIRES examines what that means.
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