Vodafone to improve isles resilience after cable outage

VODAFONE has pledged to improve its resilience for Shetland customers following a major internet outage this summer.

Hundreds of customers were left without internet for almost two weeks from late July to early August after the Shefa-2 fibre optic cable was damaged by a fishing  boat.

The cable was damaged around nine kilometres off the coast of Orkney, leaving many Sky, Vodafone and TalkTalk customers without broadband.

Vodafone was criticised by MP Alistair Carmichael during the outage for a lack of a “plan B”, and for its lack of resilience.

However Carmichael said the company has now secured additional infrastructure to strengthen its service for the Northern Isles.

He said Vodafone expects to have “resilient routing” in place by early next year.

The company is also currently conducting a feasibility study about constructing its own subsea cable to Shetland, as reported previously, which would have an anchor point in Orkney.

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That cable, if approved, could significantly improve connectivity for people in Shetland and Orkney.

Carmichael said he was “not shy about criticising Vodafone” during the cable outage, so had to give them credit now when it was due.

“It also stands in complete contrast with the approach of TalkTalk which have given islanders the cold shoulder and refuse to engage on improvements to resilience,” he said.

“They should know that islanders are going to keep their behaviour during the cable breakage in mind when it comes to renewing contracts in future.“

“I will continue to engage with Vodafone, other telecoms providers and the government to ensure that we see clear improvements to the reliability of our infrastructure in the months to come.”