Underwater links into superfast broadband network 25/12/13
Upgrading the Western Isles broadband links will see a series of underwater fibre
optic cables being laid under sea crossings through the islands plus seabed connections
to the mainland.
The longest cable will run for nearly 49 miles under the Minch from Ullapool to Stornoway.
Another long stretch is a 35 mile link between Carnan on South Uist and Dunvegan,
Skye.
Fibre cables are also to be installed between the sea channels breaking up the Western
Isles.
Lochmaddy and Leverburgh will be linked by a connection under the Sound of Harris.
The new network will reach to Barra via marine cabling installed from Lochboisdale
to Eriskay and then under the Sound of Barra to North Bay.
Installing underwater fibre cables to improve the Western Isles broadband links with
the rest of the world Orange Marine’s cable ship René Descartes. Orange Marine is
part of the Orange mobile phone company, formerly France Télécom.
The specialist cable laying ship, which has previously visited the Western Isles,
will use its submersible plough as well as remotely operated vehicles to bury the
double armoured cable in the seabed where the ground allow.
The cableship will be backed up by dive support vessels, tugs and a shallow water
laying vessel.
The £146 million fibre broadband scheme is being led by HIE and delivered by BT.
It means that around 84 per cent of Highlands and Islands homes and businesses will
have access to fibre broadband by the end of 2016.
The project is by far the most ambitious and challenging rural broadband roll-out
BT has undertaken anywhere in the UK.
Along with the subsea cables, the company will build more than 800km of new land
fibre backbone to complement its existing fibre network, and install hundreds more
kilometres of fibre access cable to hundreds of new street cabinets.
The public sector investment towards the contract is £126.4 million. It is being
delivered through the Scottish Government broadband fund, which incorporates funding
from Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), and also includes up to £12 million from HIE’s
own budget.
BT is investing an additional £19.4 million in the project, on top of its investment
in its wider commercial roll-out for the region, taking the total project value to
around £146 million.