Posted: 31st Aug, 2011 By: MarkJ
Shetland Telecom, a public sector-backed company that was set up by the
Shetland Islands Council to develop better telecom services in
Shetland (North of Scotland, UK), has officially begun
Phase 2 of its ambitious project to bring superfast broadband ISP services to local residents and businesses via a new fibre optic cable link.
The
SHEFA2 Interconnect project recently completed
Phase 1, which connected
Lerwick to the
Faroese fibre optic cable that crosses Shetland between
Maywick and
Sandwick. By contrast
Phase 2, which is being constructed by
Airport Civil Engineering (ACE), will run the fibre optic cable between
Lerwick on Shetland's south east to
Scalloway in the south west.
Shetland Telecom Statement on the Final Phase
The final phase involves laying a sub sea cable between the Trondra Bridge and Maywick, the survey work for this is underway however it is unlikley that installation will be carried out this autumn [2011], in which case it will be postponed until favourable weather returns next spring [2012].
The project is crucial to the islands future because, as SIC recently pointed out (
here), existing services from BT and
Cable & Wireless (C&W) are said to be "
not capable of providing the services" that local communities and businesses need.
The ability for Telco's to connect citizens up via a superfast fibre optic based broadband connection will no doubt make a huge difference over the somewhat woeful
Microwave link that exists today.