BORDERERS hoping to surf the web at superfast speeds have been dealt a blow after it emerged that the project designed to deliver nationwide high-speed access is already behind schedule.

The R100 programme, which will see superfast broadband of at least 30mb/s available to every home and business in Scotland, was unveiled in 2016 and is due to be delivered by 2021.

An initial investment of £600 million was announced by the Scottish government in 2017 however it has emerged that contracts to fulfil the rollout have yet to be awarded.

The ‘South’ contract, which will cover the rollout of superfast broadband in the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway, constitutes £133 million of the total investment.

The Government estimates that there are 21,000 eligible premises that will benefit from the superfast rollout in the South Scotland region.

When this will be, however, remains unclear.

Audit Scotland initially revealed that the awarding of contracts had been delayed until March 2019 “to allow bidders more time to prepare their bids”.

Borders MP John Lamont is unimpressed by the delay.

He said: “Since it was announced, the R100 programme has been touted as the solution for everyone in the Borders who has an issue with their broadband.

“Now we learn the project hasn’t even started, is already months behind schedule and that no money has been actually set aside for it yet.

“It is a complete nonsense in this day and age that nearly one in five people in the Borders do not have access to decent broadband.”

The Border Telegraph has contacted the Scottish Government for comment.