The £70m Pathfinder North Broadband Project, which aimed to provide fast broadband links to 801 schools, libraries and other local authority buildings throughout the Scottish Highlands and Islands, has finally been completed.

The end of implementation phase marks a major milestone for the five local authorities involved in the project: The Highland Council and Moray, Argyll and Bute Councils and Orkney and Shetland Islands Councils.


An evaluation of the Pathfinder Project will be undertaken between March and June 2010, which could in theory lead to the future expansion of similar projects. The Pathfinder North project used a mix of fibre optic cables and broadband wireless ( Wi-Fi ) technology to deploy its service.

Prior to Pathfinder North being implemented local authorities had a network that had connections based on a range of dial-up, ISDN and lower-speed broadband services. The new network delivers speeds from 2Mbps to 300Mbps, which is not shared with anyone else, allowing local authorities to make full use of the bandwidths available.