Maree Todd: Digital inequality is a real challenge for rural areas
Holyrood Notebook by Maree Todd
On an unusually sunny day in March, I headed up to Halkirk to join Highland Broadband in celebrating the village’s connection to superfast broadband.
Once home to the slowest broadband speeds in the UK, Halkirk now has one of the fastest speeds in the country - 3000 times faster!
Many families will be used to balancing access to the internet. I’ve often had to clear the rest of the family off our broadband before connecting to an important meeting.
Life has been transformed for families in Halkirk though.
As one young gamer told me, “I can download a game in 20 minutes now, it used to take 6-8 hours”.
As the day unfolded, it quickly became clear how far-reaching the economic and social benefits of this new connection are for the village.
One conversation that stuck with me was with a local doctor who had recently moved to Halkirk.
She’s a radiologist and explained how crucial it is to have fast, reliable broadband to do her job properly.
She needs it to access and review medical images, and without a solid, high-speed connection, she can’t provide the care her patients need.
It really hit home that fast broadband is about so much more than just streaming TV without buffering or downloading a game at speed — it’s essential to making services like healthcare run smoothly and ensuring people get the care they need.
I also spoke with Tanya Horne, who runs the local dance school. She shared how the new broadband connection has opened up a world of opportunities for her business.
She can now connect with dance schools across the globe, host sessions from her own studio in Halkirk, and access training courses online—all of which would have been impossible without this upgrade.
I’m fascinated by how much broadband has evolved. Twenty years ago, the thought of video calling my daughter - who’s currently traveling Asia – as I’m cooking in my kitchen in the north west Highlands would have been inconceivable.
It makes you realise just how much the internet has transformed the way we stay connected.
It’s no longer just a convenience; it’s become an essential part of our daily lives—it’s how we work, learn, and communicate.
That being said, the cost of devices, internet access, and the skills required to use them means that the digital world isn’t accessible to everyone.
My team and I often help constituents who struggle to complete social security forms or access essential services online for these very reasons.
As technology continues to evolve, it’s clear that more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide.
That’s why I was heartened to hear that Highland Broadband donated a laptop and broadband package to the Ross Institute in Halkirk which the community council is making available for community use.
This is a small but meaningful step towards tackling digital exclusion in rural villages, like Halkirk.
Digital inequality is a real challenge for rural areas, and it’s becoming even more evident as the world shifts toward remote work and online business.
Rural communities shouldn’t be at a disadvantage compared to urban areas when it comes to accessing opportunities. We need to speed up efforts to bridge this gap and make sure no one gets left behind.
The rollout in Halkirk was made possible with support from the Scottish National Investment Bank, set up by the Scottish Government in 2020.
Its goal is to provide long-term investment to businesses and projects that help build a fairer, greener, and more sustainable economy across Scotland.
The impact this connection will have on Halkirk is significant, and I’m hopeful we’ll see similar progress and investment in communities across my constituency.
• Maree Todd is the SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.
