Community / Openreach’s trouble to cross the bridge to East Burra
PEOPLE in East Burra are likely to be connected to full fibre broadband by the end of June if poles to Bridge End can be installed in time, Openreach says.
It comes as local people have expressed frustration with the digital network provider’s contradictory communication over its efforts to lay a cable across the bridge that separates East Burra.
Residents had been advised that high speed broadband would be available from December last year, but the cabling now terminates at each side of the bridge without being connected.
Openreach has now confirmed that two poles will be erected “to cross the South Voe/Land Sound”, after it was established by engineers that the duct could not be laid across the bridge.
A trench had been cut across the bridge and then closed again after it was discovered the road structure was not deep enough to accommodate the duct.
The solution of erecting poles, as proposed by Openreach, has been described as “clumsy and fragile” by local resident Pierre Cambillard who, together with others in the community, have been working to overcome the impasse.
Another local resident, Alastair Hamilton, said in a letter to the BT Openreach complaints department that conflicting statements by the company had not been helpful and had created a lot of frustration in the community.
Hamilton said he had initially been told that no full fibre was planned for the area, despite evidence to the contrary, only to be advised thereafter that a budget issue was preventing Openreach from crossing the bridge.
“You will, I hope, understand that our frustration about all this stems in large part from the demonstrated inability of Openreach to provide accurate and timely information,” Hamilton wrote.
“I’m afraid that your reply – denying that there are plans to instal fibre when the work has already been done – gives us the impression that your company’s internal communications are entirely ineffective. In that sense, I do not envy you in your role.”
However, in a statement to Shetland News, Openreach has confirmed that there was in fact no budget concerns with the “overhead build”, adding that installing the poles “means we avoid the bridge at East Burra/Bridge End”.
A company spokesperson added: “We’re bringing full fibre broadband to East Burra through the Scottish Government’s R100 programme.
“As part of the build, we’ll install two poles to cross the South Voe / Lang Sound. We’ll do this as soon as possible, and people can find out when they can upgrade to full fibre by entering their postcode on the government’s online checker,” she said.
In response, Cambillard said: “Although we are obviously keen to see progress, the use of poles seems a clumsy and potentially fragile solution.
“Scottish Water managed to attach their main pipeline to the south side of the bridge, and it would be far better to adopt that approach for the cable.
“It’s astonishing that this issue was not identified by Openreach when the engineering survey for the fibre connection was undertaken.”
Hamilton added he would appreciate if Openreach could provide a date by which the connection across the bridge will be completed, enabling the local community to order a fibre service.
Openreach was contacted earlier today again and confirmed that they were aiming to have the work done by the end of June.
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