Fibre broadband roll-out in Skye
The roll-out of high-speed broadband on Skye has started, and more than 3,000 more homes and businesses are set to be drawn into the new fibre network.
First services are already available to order in the Kiltragleann estate in Portree, through the island’s first fibre cabinet – these are used to deliver the new high-speed broadband to homes.A new cabinet has also been built in Kyleakin and will come through after testing.
Now the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) project will be building new telecoms and fibre cabinets across the island, and one on Raasay, to bring better broadband to many local villages.
Work is starting on the new infrastructure in Ardvasar, Broadford, Dunvegan, Edinbane, Isle Ornsay, Raasay, Uig and Portree. Services will start to go live during the next six months.More coverage is also coming on the mainland at Kyle of Lochalsh – reaching more than 400 additional premises.
Further roll out is in planning for later in the year for Carbost and Staffin, and in the Skeabost Bridge area.
The roll-out is part of a £146m investment led in the region by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) which is bringing better broadband to thousands of homes and businesses which could not be reached by the private sector's commercial fibre broadband programme.
The project is funded by the Scottish Government, the UK Government, HIE and private sector partner BT, with engineers from BT's local network business Openreach delivering the project on the ground.
Stuart Robertson, Director of Digital at HIE, said: “Building a fibre optic network in Skye opens up access to high speed broadband to many people for the first time. Without the public investment it simply wasn’t viable for the market to bring fibre to many parts of the Highlands.
“This first phase of the DSSB project is a huge first step – getting a main core network in place which we can build on into the future and getting as many people as we can linked into it.It is important to note that when it’s available you do have to order – it’s a completely different product from the current broadband service.”
“Working with Digital Scotland partners and Community Broadband Scotland we are looking at the best ways to reach even further.We won’t reach everyone in this first phase, but no one is forgotten. Digital Scotland partners, including our colleagues at Community Broadband Scotland, are looking at where we could reach with an additional phase of roll-out and through community-led projects for those in the hardest to reach areas.”
Customers will be able to check progress and see when they can order by checking their details on the Digital Scotland interactive map www.hie.co.uk/whereandwhen
BT Scotland’s fibre broadband director Liz Mallinson said: “This is terrific news for more than 3,000 homes and businesses in eight communities on Skye and one on Raasay. We look forward to building on the progress of the roll-out to date and bringing fast fibre to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Fibre broadband enables multiple users at home or in business to connect to online services at faster speeds, whatever you’re doing online.”
Access to the fibre 16 February 2016
The roll-out of high-speed broadband on Skye has started, and more than 3,000 more homes and businesses are set to be drawn into the new fibre network.
First services are already available to order in the Kiltragleann estate in Portree, through the island’s first fibre cabinet – these are used to deliver the new high-speed broadband to homes.A new cabinet has also been built in Kyleakin and will come through after testing.
Now the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband (DSSB) project will be building new telecoms and fibre cabinets across the island, and one on Raasay, to bring better broadband to many local villages.
Work is starting on the new infrastructure in Ardvasar, Broadford, Dunvegan, Edinbane, Isle Ornsay, Raasay, Uig and Portree. Services will start to go live during the next six months.More coverage is also coming on the mainland at Kyle of Lochalsh – reaching more than 400 additional premises.
Further roll out is in planning for later in the year for Carbost and Staffin, and in the Skeabost Bridge area.
The roll-out is part of a £146m investment led in the region by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) which is bringing better broadband to thousands of homes and businesses which could not be reached by the private sector's commercial fibre broadband programme.
The project is funded by the Scottish Government, the UK Government, HIE and private sector partner BT, with engineers from BT's local network business Openreach delivering the project on the ground.
Stuart Robertson, Director of Digital at HIE, said: “Building a fibre optic network in Skye opens up access to high speed broadband to many people for the first time. Without the public investment it simply wasn’t viable for the market to bring fibre to many parts of the Highlands.
“In this first phase the DSSB project is taking a huge first step – getting a main core network in place which we can build on into the future and getting as many people as we can linked into it. It is important to note that when it’s available you do have to order – it’s a completely different product from the current broadband service.”
“Working with Digital Scotland partners and Community Broadband Scotland we are looking at the best ways to reach even further.We won’t reach everyone in this first phase, but no one is forgotten. Digital Scotland partners, including our colleagues at Community Broadband Scotland, are looking at where we could reach with an additional phase of roll-out and through community-led projects for those in the hardest to reach areas.”
Customers will be able to check progress and see when they can order by checking their details on the Digital Scotland interactive map www.hie.co.uk/whereandwhen
BT Scotland’s fibre broadband director Liz Mallinson said: “This is terrific news for more than 3,000 homes and businesses in eight communities on Skye and one on Raasay. We look forward to building on the progress of the roll-out to date and bringing fast fibre to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Fibre broadband enables multiple users at home or in business to connect to online services at faster speeds, whatever you’re doing online.”
Access to the network is available to all service providers on an open wholesale basis.
network is available to all service providers on an open wholesale basis.
Notes to editor
*Deployment plans are subject to change. The expectations reflected in this plan are reasonable, but because the rollout involves risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ from those expressed or implied.
Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) technology offers broadband speeds of up to 80 Mbps*. Speed and availablility is dependent on whether a premise is connected to a cabinet and the length of the line between them.As a rule of thumb premises with a line length of less than 1km will see download speeds of more than 24 Mbps, and those up to 2km will see some uplift depending on their current speed.Beyond that distance speeds fall away and you may not see a benefit. This may improve as technology does.
Latest Highland areas where work is starting in next six months….
Ardvasar, Arisaig, Broadford, Dunvegan, Edinbane, Fort Augustus, Isle Ornsay, Kyle, Poolewe, Raasay, Salen, Scourie, Uig, Portree
