Community ISP HebNet CIC has worked with Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) to deploy an enterprise-grade wireless link between the Isle of Skye and Knoydart in rural Scotland, which has connected both the local Salmon farms and delivered 30Mbps+ broadband speeds to nearby homes.
Unfortunately gaining access to “superfast broadband” can still be problematic in many parts of rural west Scotland and that’s been a particular concern for SSF, which has three Salmon farms around Loch Nevis. Thankfully the new network, which was more than 50% funded by SSF, has helped to change that. As a result the farms can now harness useful remote monitoring and feeding systems.
On top of that SSF has worked with HUBS CIC to deploy a dedicated fibre optic connection, which links the core networks of both organisations and provides extra capacity, as well as some additional resilience.
Jim Gallagher, SSF MD, said (Fish Farming Expert):
“Each and every pound that our company invests is focused on one thing, enhancing the health and welfare of our fish, and this latest investment helps us do exactly that. It also contributes towards our goal of ensuring that the communities in which we live and work derive maximum benefit from us being there, by offering access to the same high levels of connectivity that come as standard in more central locations.”
The bad news is that somebody seems to have timed today’s PR push rather poorly because the HebNet website is currently offline for a re-design, which means that anybody hunting for more details on either their network coverage or service packages will have to wait until it returns (or try emailing them directly on info@hebnet.co.uk).
HebNet is a fantastic little rural broadband project. Original coverage included the Small Isles. I got to experience the network myself when I was working on Rum for 5 weeks. The island has no 2G/3G/4G coverage, but the village hall had 50mbit broadband!
Really great for the local economy. You can now find accommodation on the island being offered on places like AirBnB. Completely impossible if it hadn’t been for HebNet