Hang out the bunting and crack open the whisky -Edinburgh has joined a select group of towns and cities that now boasts unbundled telecoms loops.

That's right, according to Leith-based ISP edNET it has just started providing broadband to a city-centre company over an unbundled local loop, the first such instance in Edinburgh.

Oh, and edNET also thinks this could be a first in Scotland, although that's yet to be confirmed.

No matter. For this is indeed a joyous day.

Yesterday, the number of unbundled local loops - the wires that connect homes and business to the phone network - stood at around 150 (we say "around 150" cos no one seems to know the exact figure, although with so few of them around you'd think they'd be easy to count).

Today, there's one more. Who says the pace of broadband Britain isn't breath-taking? ®