News / Fibre broadband roll out announced
SHETLAND has given a cautious welcome to a £146 million investment in high speed fibre broadband providing speeds of up to 80 mbps across the highlands and islands of Scotland.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise and telecoms giant BT are promising that 84 per cent of the region’s homes and business will have access to fibre broadband by the end of the project, though it is not clear how long it will take.
The Scottish government has invested £126.4 million into what they describe as “one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in Scotland’s history”.
A further £19.4 million is coming from BT, who ended up being the only telecoms provider to bid for the project.
The company will build “a fibre backbone” stretching more than 800 kilometres on land, with a further 400 kilometres of subsea cables over 19 crossings to remote islands in the biggest subsea engineering project BT has undertaken in the UK.
Hundreds more kilometres of fibre will connect the main cable to new street cabinets which will take the high speed broadband out into local communities.
The ability of people living in remote parts of the highlands and islands furthest from exchanges remains open to question as they will still be accessing the fibre network via a copper cable, limiting the speed of the service.
However BT and HIE say they will be creating a further £2.5 million innovation fund to improve remote services to remote communities.
Detailed plans for each local authority area are still being worked out, but the project is being described as “a step change” for fibre broadband in the region.
Shetland Telecom manager Marvin Smith said: “I am delighted to hear that the project is going to go ahead, but we need to know where and when the upgrades are planned before we get too excited.
“Until we see details it is very difficult to work out exactly what this means locally.
“BT’s normal delivery model is Fibre to the Cabinet. This works well in urban environments where there are a lot of houses right next to the cabinet, but because the final connection is still on copper (not fibre) then the further you are away from the cabinet the less the benefit is.
“Once we see the plans in detail will know better which areas are likely to benefit and which areas will need further support.”
Scotland’s deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon congratulated the partners involved in the project, saying it “could transform the way in which we educate our children, provide health and social care and deliver our public services”.
HIE chief executive Alex Paterson described the project as “a game changer” providing fast broadband to communities which would not otherwise have stood a chance of receiving it.
“(Fibre broadband) offers opportunities for new ways of working, innovation, enhanced public services, access to international markets and provides the infrastructure needed by business sectors like energy, life sciences, tourism and business services,” he said.
BT’s next generation broadband managing director Bill Murphy said this “once in a generation” project could only be carried out in partnership with government due to the incredible obstacles it would have to overcome.
Once running, the network will be open to all communications providers on an equal basis to create a competitive market.
“BT’s network will be open to all communications providers on an equal wholesale basis creating a competitive market where people aren’t stuck with one broadband provider and can choose the package and price that suits them,” he promised.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said that the broadband roll out would be good news only if it reached all parts of the islands and did not further the “digital divide” between islanders with next to no service and those with a fast connection.
“I will expect HIE to say exactly what the implications are for all of Shetland so that we can work out whether this public investment is helping many people in the more isolated parts with their broadband connections. That must surely be the objective,” he said.
Broadband was highlighted at Monday’s meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands as a key to developing business in the region and attracting families and young people to live in the north.
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