Remote Scotland Communities Demand Broadband Rollout Clarity

Alistair Carmichael, the MP for two of north Scotland’s most remote island communities (Orkney and Shetland) and the UK’s Secretary of State for Scotland, has called upon the Scottish Government and BT to publish a more detailed roll-out plan for the on-going deployment of “fibre broadband” (FTTC/P) connectivity on the islands.

The first few FTTC equipped street cabinets, serving 4,000 premises in Lerwick, Quarff and Sumburgh, finally went live on Shetland in October 2014 as part of the wider £410m Digital Scotland partnership (here). Pretty good considering that the island is home to about 22,000 people, with another 20,000 or so on Orkney.

At the time it was revealed that the next phase of work on Shetland would start in H2 2015 and this would connect more people in Sumburgh, Cunningsburgh and Lerwick, it will also take services out to a number of new communities including Voe, Symbister, Brae, Scalloway and Sandwick (many are on Exchange Only Lines).

But unlike other Broadband Delivery UK based projects the effort in Shetland and Orkney has not been as well communicated and indeed it’s a struggle to find any usefully detailed deployment maps or roll-out timetables. The lack of information has also been raised by the local MP for both islands.

Alistair Carmichael said (Orcadian):

“Local people in Orkney and Shetland need to have more clarity over the timetable for superfast broadband roll out. This is especially true for those in remote areas who are not covered within the programme.

It is apparent that Community Broadband Scotland is not achieving the reach it needs for a number of reasons. There remain technological challenges and it remains unclear what constitutes a ‘hard to reach’ community.

We want to know when we can expect to receive upgrades so that our locally services and businesses can plan ahead. It is vital that these remote areas are not left in the lurch.”

It’s noted that several areas of Orkney are not currently considered to be in the scope of Scotland’s deployment plan, including North Ronaldsay, Papa Westray, Sanday, Eday, Rousay, Shapinsay, Stronsay, Hoy, Flotta and Graemsay. Mind you this may change once the extension funding to achieve the national 95% coverage target has been decided.

But in the meantime it’s clear that a little more information would go a long way to better communicating all of the good work that will soon be done.