BBC News Online: UK: Scotland

Firm plans £100m broadband move

High-speed internet access is part of the plans

Omne Communication is planning an expansion which will bring high-speed internet access to the area.

And the move, which was announced on Monday, should create 200 jobs over the next two to three years.

Omne has raised £260m on the financial markets to fund its assault on the south west of Scotland.

The company will base its headquarters at Irvine in Ayrshire.

Over the next couple of years it aims to build a broadband cable network covering Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway and Cumbria.

The service will provide digital television, telephone and high speed internet services to about 325,000 residents and 25,000 businesses which have not previously had the services.

Most of the jobs will be based in a customer service centre.

The network - which will stretch from the south of Glasgow through Ayrshire, Dumfries and Galloway and across Cumbria to Lancaster and Morecambe in the north of England - is scheduled to be completed by 2004.

Chief executive Ian Renshaw said the company planned to recruit as many local staff as possible.

He said: "Omne Communication's remit is to ensure the benefits of the digital age are available to the business and residential community."

Bill Kerr, chairman of the Ayrshire Economic Forum and Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire, added: "Omne's announcement is a fantastic boost for the Ayrshire economy - not only in terms of jobs and investment, but also for the significant benefits it will bring to Ayrshire's digital infrastructure."