BT hopes new network link will improve isles communication
Stephen Gordon
BT today switched on a new 10-Gigabit network link to improve communication services used by thousands of Shetland households and businesses.
Work began on designing the new, secondary link into Lerwick in October last year with the aim of boosting services and providing fully resilient, high-speed back-up in the event of a broadband network failure.
Previous links depended on a common sub-sea cable linking the isles to the mainland, which lies across one of the busiest shipping lanes in the North Sea.
BT’s general manager for network capacity Owen Moody said: “Our new secondary link is without doubt the most complex network solution in our UK network.
“We’ve used four separate 10G circuits including one from Foroya Telecom and three high-speed Ethernet links from Openreach capable of carrying large volumes of data.
“These four links interconnect via various third-party locations, including Faroese and Icelandic telecom sites and multiple BT buildings, and now perform seamlessly as a single link to deliver full high-speed resilience to Shetland.
“As well as providing an extra route for mobile calls, data and internet traffic, this investment also provides greater capacity to meet growing demand for these services.”
BT Scotland director Brendan Dick added: “After many months of hard work we’re delighted to announce that the new link has gone live today to deliver an improved and fully resilient high-speed service experience for customers in the Shetland Islands.
“Most disruption to our network is caused by extreme weather, which often particularly affects the more remote parts of Scotland, so we’re especially pleased to have completed this extremely complex project before winter sets in.”
Graeme Storey
Well done, BT, and thank you! For those of us who rely on good, regular, high-speed, IT connections, then this is a very welcome boost to the strength and integrity of the phone and Internet network in Shetland.