Telco BT is to invest 8 million in bringing superfast broadband to the Highlands of Scotland, and building a fibre optic lick to Orkney and the Shetland Islands.
The company said several areas will benefit from the plan to run a fibre optic cable from Inverness up to the two islands in the far north of the UK.
The 1,000km connection includes a 400 km link undersea to the islands. A microwave link, presently used to connect it to the mainland, will be used as a backup.
The link will connect the towns of Dingwall, Tain, Thurso, Alness and Invergordon in the Highlands before heading up to Kirkwall in Orkney and Lerwick in Shetland.
Brendan Dick, director of BT Scotland, announced the project at a public meeting in Shetland.
"This significant investment demonstrates BT's ongoing commitment to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland," said Dick.
"By investing 8 million in this fibre spine for Orkney, Shetland and the north of Scotland, BT is laying the building blocks for any future deployment of fibre broadband," he said.
The BT investment will result in download speeds of up to 20 megabits per second (Mbps) more than double the fastest speed previously available from BT.
There will also be a fault reporting system set up on the islands, which will help residents to "spot" incidents from areas around the isles.
The firm will be offering access to the link on a wholesale basis to all communications companies providing business services.
Meanwhile, BT looks set to clinch a contract to provide faster broadband in Norfolk after it was selected as the preferred bidder for a 39.3m contract to run fibre optic broadband in rural areas of the county.
But the agreement between the telco and Norfolk County Council is subject to approval by the European Commission, which is currently looking into claims that there is not enough competition in the UK broadband market.
To date, BT has won all the contracts it has bid for as part of the Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) scheme.
"This represents a staggering acceleration in broadband provision in Norfolk," said Ian Mackie, deputy leader at Norfolk County Council, in a statement.
"The significance of this deal and this project for the future success of our county cannot be underestimated."
BT is also set to become the preferred bidder to build a superfast broadband network after rivals Fujitsu pulled out of the bidding process.
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Equinix acquires BT's Irish data centers in €59 million dealNews As BT moves to an asset-light business model, Equinix looks to expand
-
BT just extended the PSTN switch-off deadline — here’s what you need to knowNews BT described the move as a “revision”, citing a series of improvements to the wider PSTN switch-off programme
-
BT misses key Huawei kit removal deadline, but the telco is “almost over the line”News BT is still reliant on non-compliant Huawei equipment for 2G and 3G services
-
BT partners with HPE to deliver new global managed LAN service
News The latest collaboration combines BT’s connectivity expertise with HPE Aruba Networking’s latest LAN solutions
-
Making the switchWhitepaper Realise the benefits of IP technology ahead of the digital ‘switch-on’
-
BT and OneWeb succeed in "game changer" satellite connection trialNews Smaller businesses in rural areas could benefit from improvements to backhaul services using satellites, with speeds increasing by an order of magnitude
-
BT, Nokia crack four carrier aggregation on a 5G network in first for EuropeNews The breakthrough marks the first successful use of such technology on a live network, and could lead to dramatic network improvements
-
BT Mini Whole Home Wi-Fi review: Value-conscious range extensionReviews You shouldn’t expect top performance, but this dinky mesh system eradicates notspots for a great price
