The service, developed by Openreach, means nearly 5,000 businesses and homes in the town now have access some of the fastest, most reliable broadband in the UK. 

The local build passes the town’s high street, more than 400 businesses and schools as well as Lanark’s landmark water tower and thousands of local homes.  

But many residents have yet to make the move to the faster, more reliable services now available, with take up at 14 per cent, behind the Scottish average of 23 per cent. 

Full fibre broadband provides more reliable, resilient and future-proof connectivity; with fewer faults; more predictable, consistent speeds and enough capacity to easily meet growing data demands.  

Cleland Sneddon, Chief Executive of South Lanarkshire Council, said: “Having access to the next generation of reliable, ultrafast internet connectivity will give Lanark residents and businesses a much-needed boost. 

“We’re very pleased to see this progress and welcome Openreach’s balanced build approach, which includes smaller towns in hard-to-reach parts of the country as well as more urban areas. 

“We’ll continue to work with Openreach to encourage further investment in connectivity in South Lanarkshire.” 

Robert Thorburn, Openreach’s Partnership Director for Scotland, said: “Our new fast and reliable network will give Lanark businesses an edge as they fight back from the pandemic and means that residents’ connectivity is future-proof, no matter what life throws at us next. 

“Our commercial build in Lanark is largely complete, with engineers now focused on reaching some of the remaining, trickier properties. We’re intent on delivering a great service to local residents, helping people to work from home easily and build opportunities in their communities.

“Gigabit-capable broadband can have a huge impact on people’s daily lives, and it’s great for the economy too. But upgrades aren’t automatic and people will need to place orders through their chosen providers to get connected to ultrafast services.”             

Openreach has announced plans to invest in full fibre broadband for the majority of premises in 16 towns and villages across South Lanarkshire, including Rutherglen, Carluke and Lesmahagow.

It’s part of the company’s plans to reach 25m UK homes and businesses by 2026. This short video explains what full fibre technology is and you can find out more about Openreach's Fibre First programme here.