BT is set to invest £8 million in a new fibre link between Inverness in the north of Scotland to Orkney and Shetland which will double the previous fastest speeds available to 20Mbps.
BT was beaten to the punch in Shetland, by the local community telecoms group, Shetland Telecom, which hooked the islands up to the SHEFA-2 cable between Scotland and the Faroes.
BT currently only has microwave radio links to the islands, but is upgrading with a link to SHEFA-2, and will lease capacity on that cable. It will retain its microwave system as a backup while a fault reporting service will be implemented until the new link becomes operational next year.
Almost 1,000km of fibre cable, including 400km of subsea, will be used, making it one of the longest optical transmission systems in the UK. Its length has required a bespoke design and improvements to the remote maintenance of the connection.
The business network allows large businesses, SMBs and public sector organisations a choice of guaranteed broadband speeds over a dedicated line ranging from 1Mbps to 10GBps.
“This significant investment demonstrates BT’s ongoing commitment to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,” said Brendan Dick, Director of BT Scotland. “In fact, no communications company is doing more than BT to roll-out next generation broadband services across the Highlands and Islands. And, by investing £8 million in this fibre spine for Orkney, Shetland and the north of Scotland, BT is laying the building blocks for any future deployment of fibre broadband.”
“Faster broadband is touching the Iives of everyone – from small businesses and homeworkers, to internet shoppers, students, families and online gaming enthusiasts – and transforming the way we do things, for the better. BT is committed to making faster technologies available to as many homes and businesses as possible,” he added.
The SNP in particular has been a vocal critic about the level of funding allocated to improving broadband in Scotland. The UK government awarded the country an addition £32 million in funding in June, while the Scottish Highlands and islands were granted another £120 million by the Scottish government earlier this year.
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Well that's very nice for the people of Orkney and Shetland but what about us in the highly populated South East? When are we going to get more than 2MB/s?
Fibre link? Can't see that happening here in my lifetime!