Ultrafast full fibre broadband available to some

OPENREACH says work is ongoing in bringing ‘full fibre’ broadband to properties in Shetland. The company said work is continuing in Unst and Yell, with upgrades planned to get underway in Whalsay and Scalloway before the end of the year.

A spokesperson for Openreach said around 1,100 households and businesses in Shetland can now access full fibre broadband as a result of the Scottish Government’s R100 programme.

Full fibre broadband connects a property directly to the exchange using fibre optic cables, instead of having to go through a cabinet.

Openreach said with speeds of up to 1Gbps, full fibre is more than 30 times faster than the Scottish Government’s original commitment to make superfast services available to homes and businesses.

Openreach partnership director for Scotland Robert Thorburn said: “The R100 build is a monumental effort to upgrade and connect Scotland’s most challenging locations.

“There’s over a thousand people working on the build, with three million metres of new cable installed so far this year – enough to run up and down the A9 seven times.

“We’re seeing really positive, steady growth in take-up across the country, and our teams are now preparing for the next stages of local deployment, working closely with Shetland Islands Council.”

He added: “We do our best to avoid disruptive operations by reusing existing poles and ducts and deploying engineering innovations instead of digging up roads. “But we do want residents to be aware that sometimes civils work or new poles are needed, to include as many local homes and businesses as possible.”

For outlying properties out of reach of planned work a voucher scheme is available which gives grants towards systems like wireless or satellite internet.

However, Shetland MSP Beatrice Wishart has called for a “rethink” on the voucher scheme.

The R100 scheme is also behind on initial time targets, with early commitments aiming for every home and business in Scotland to have access to superfast broadband – at least 30Mbps – by the end of 2021.

People can check if the rollout has reached their address yet and register for progress updates at https://www.openreach.co.uk/r100 

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