MP's anger over Inverness's 'slowest' broadband

Edinburgh had the fastest broadband speeds in Scotland

Broadband speeds in Inverness are the slowest of any city in Scotland according to research carried out by comparison website Top 10 Broadband.

Danny Alexander, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, said the average speed of 2.52Mbps (megabits per second) was a "disgrace".

Edinburgh was the fastest in Scotland with 6.38Mbps and 14th quickest on a list of UK cities. London was 15th.

Bournemouth was top UK city with an average of 8.06Mbps.

Mr Alexander, a Liberal Democrat MP, said: "This report reinforces the complaints made by local residents and businesses about the slow broadband speeds in Inverness.

"It is simply a disgrace that the Highland capital is so far behind other Scottish cities."

A separate study of telecoms connectivity commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) led to the organisation warning that the region could lag behind the rest of the UK in the roll-out of next generation broadband access (NGA).

The research suggested 95% of the area had a basic level of broadband.

And the report said no homes in the Highlands and Islands would be included in the initial introduction of faster services.

NGA involves replacing some or all of the existing copper phone lines with fibre-optic cables to allow for higher broadband speeds.