The Scottish Government is increasingly “dependent on the controversial American billionaire” Elon Musk to fulfil a manifesto commitment on broadband, Willie Rennie has claimed.
The comment from the Lib Dem MSP came during question time in Holyrood as Richard Lochhead was quizzed on the R100 programme to deliver superfast broadband to every home and business in Scotland.
READ MORE: SNP's £600m broadband scheme six years late and still a 'huge challenge'
It was a key pledge in the SNP’s manifesto for the Scottish Parliament elections and was supposed to be completed by 2021.
While more than 95% of premises in Scotland already have access to a 30Mbps+ capable network, delays, including a legal challenge, mean the remaining houses will not be reached before March 2028.
Homes and businesses not yet covered by the R100 scheme are able to apply for a one-off voucher of £5,000 to help them set up a permanent superfast connection themselves, including the use of satellite broadband connections.
Mr Musk’s Starlink is one of the world's largest satellite broadband schemes, though is not part of Scottish Government’s voucher scheme.
During general questions, Mr Rennie asked Mr Lochhead if he had “consulted Elon Musk as part of its R100 programme.”
The minister replied: “I've never spoken personally to Elon Musk, maybe that will happen one day, who knows. But Starlink a subsidiary of SpaceX, which was founded by Elon Musk is one of the many companies that we engaged with when preparing to launch our R100 Scottish broadband voucher scheme.
“However, at that time that they chose not to register. We have however, continued dialogue with Starlink and other providers, and all Scotland is now capable of accessing a Low Earth Orbit satellite broadband connection commercially.”
READ MORE: Business leaders push SNP Government on 5G R100
Mr Rennie replied: “That kind of confirms it, that the SNP government is dependent on the controversial American billionaire and his low Earth orbit satellites to deliver their manifesto promise on R100.
“The truth is the R100 programme is still going when it was supposed to be completed two years ago, and the government itself admits that thousands won't benefit from R100 until 2028.
“Isn't the minister even just a little bit embarrassed that he is now using Elon Musk as his latest excuse for failing to deliver the SNP R100 programme on time?”
Mr Lochhead replied: “I'm not sure if the chamber noticed but it was Mr Rennie that raised Elon Musk not myself as the Minister for connectivity in Scotland and I was simply answering his question.
“What I can say is access to superfast broadband in Scotland has increased by 46.8 percentage points in the last 10 years. That compares with 29.8 percentage points across the rest of the UK in the same period.
“We're making really good progress in Scotland and that also benefits Mr Rennie's constituency.
“Of the 30,680 premises within Northeast Fife that have benefited, 28,360 are capable of accessing speeds of 24 megabits per second and above.
“And then of course the R100 project is also rolling out to most of Scotland. We're also speaking to the UK Government about their 8 million pounds announced investment in satellite connections to understand what that means for Scotland.”
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