INFORMATION

Addressing rural not-spots in some of the most remote parts of the UK can be a challenging prospect. WIG has extensive investments in rural Scotland and is the expert when it comes to creating new infrastructure in this environment. Our existing investments stretch right across the Highlands and Islands and the connectivity – for many different networks as well as for mobile – that flows from these hard-working assets is unparalleled in the UK. 

In 2018 we embarked on a long-term project to build new infrastructure across rural Scotland through a build-to-suit programme with mobile operators. One of the many new locations where we developed new infrastructure was in Milton.

Milton is a small rural community in Easter Ross. It was a mobile not-spot but so were the surrounding communities and the nearby A9 road also had very poor mobile signal.  To address the challenge WIG worked with local planners and with O2 to agree the deployment of a new 50-metre tower, something that hadn’t been achieved for more than a decade in the UK. The resultant infrastructure now serves three times the area of a typical UK tower, picking up 15 other local communities and an extra 10 miles of the A9.

It is hugely encouraging to see the difference that projects like WIG’s are making to rural connectivity across Scotland… Investment in higher capacity mobile infrastructure is key to bringing digital services to the communities of the Highlands and Islands

Fergus Ewing MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity

WIG’s investment in the new tower at Milton, along with others they are deploying across Scotland, is a great example of what can be achieved when the industry and public sector collaborate

Fergus Ewing MSP, Cabinet Secretary for the Rural Economy and Connectivity