The island of Foula in Shetland – one of the remotest communities in the Highlands and Islands – is celebrating after becoming the final exchange in Scotland to be broadband-enabled by BT.
The 35 homes and businesses on Foula, which lies some 15 miles west of the Shetland mainland, can now enjoy high speed communications after what was the 378th local exchange upgraded under the Scottish Executive’s Broadband for Scotland’s Rural and Remote Areas initiative.
The switch-on of the Foula exchange means that all of Scotland’s 1,069 telephone exchanges have now been upgraded for the fast technology, apart from 21 exchanges in the Western Isles which are served by the Connected Communities wireless broadband project.
BT's own ADSL broadband programme in Scotland was completed last summer, bringing broadband to 670 exchanges serving 97.8 per cent of businesses and homes. The remaining 378 small, rural exchanges, for which there were no plans for commercial services, were enabled through an agreement between the Scottish Executive and BT following an open procurement exercise.
The programme was completed in December 2005 – apart from Foula. Work on a new microwave radio station on the island began last winter but the partly-built walls were blown down by hurricane force winds.
For health and safety reasons, work was postponed until early summer and the delayed switch on of the service on the island means that Foula is the final exchange in Scotland to go live with broadband.
Brendan Dick, national manager, BT Scotland, said: “Bricks and mortar are no match for the teeth of an Atlantic storm, so it’s great news that ADSL broadband is finally available to the 35 homes and businesses on Foula.”
Indeed, it was the elements and the geography of Foula that were the biggest challenges to the upgrade. To its west the next land mass is the southern tip of Greenland, while, to the north, next stop is the North Pole.
Due to its shallow harbour, the island has no roll-on roll-off ferry, so BT had to charter a boat to the island and arrange a haulage contractor to transport equipment to and from the boat, including radio equipment, three tonnes of batteries and power equipment, access electronics, two radio dishes, underground cables and tools.
Work on Foula first began in August last year but the partly-constructed building was blown down by hurricane force winds and work had to be suspended over the winter. When work recommenced in the second week of April the weather remained a constant challenge, with high winds and choppy seas making delivery and storage of materials difficult.
The captain of the charter ferry refused to take the boat into Foula’s very small harbour because it was so shallow and there was very little gap between the hull and the bottom of the harbour. Another captain, who felt confident enough to navigate the vessel, had to be brought in by the boat operator.
Transferring 12 engineers to and from the site was another challenge because Foula is served by a seven-seat light aircraft and the one bed and breakfast house on the island can only accommodate seven guests. BT had to organise a complex schedule of shifts so that the different engineers could get on and off the island and do their pieces of work. Several times the weather was too bad for flying and some were stranded on the island.
It was a mammoth task which included rebuilding the radio station building from ground level up to a finished structure, painting it, erecting two radio towers, rigging two radio dishes, installing a power system, access electronics and broadband equipment.
Elsewhere within the Highlands and Islands and the UK, a very small number of lines on an exchange – averaging less than half a per cent – will still be unable to receive broadband because of the distance they travel from the exchange. The out of reach issue applies to DSL networks globally and is not specific to the UK.
Over the past year the Scottish Executive have been collecting data about potential problem areas and have recently appointed independent consultants to develop their policy approach to the reach question.
They are conducting a study to assess the scale of the issue, to explore solutions from a technical perspective and to provide recommendations. The Executive say that in the next few months they will be in a position to consider these recommendations, with any implementation, if appropriate, following over 2006-07.
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