News / BT leapfrogs SIC on Vidlin broadband
A SMALL Shetland village is to benefit from much improved broadband speed thanks to a joint investment by British Telecom and the Scottish government.
Yesterday (Friday), people in Vidlin learned that their remote telephone exchange is to be upgraded to full platform ASDL broadband increasing its speed from 0.5 Mb to 8Mb before the end of the year.
The announcement comes just months after Shetland Islands Council invested the lion share of £100,000 into a pilot project giving the village wireless broadband of up 2Mb.
The local authority stepped in after local people had spent years unsuccessfully lobbying for better broadband provision.
Yesterday, SIC development officer Marvin Smith said public money could have been spent in a better way had BT told them of their plans.
“I am delighted to hear that Vidlin is being upgraded. The SIC wants to see as many exchanges being improved as possible,” Mr Smith said.
“It is increasingly frustrating that BT don’t let us know beforehand what they are going to do, so that we can work around that.
“If we had known that Vidlin was to be upgraded than we would have taken our pilot project to Northmavine or another area and run it there, and more people in Shetland would have benefitted from better broadband.”
The council’s telecommunication team is presently finalising plans to invest £1.2 million into a new fibre optic cable that will link Lerwick with Faroe’s subsea cable that crosses Shetland between Maywick and Sandwick.
Shetland MSP Tavish Scott said: “The slow broadband connection speeds offered at the Vidlin exchange have been the cause for considerable frustration for some time.
“This is something I have raised with BT a number of times and indeed I persuaded them to come to Vidlin to hold a public meeting to look at the issue. The confirmation that it is at last to be upgraded will therefore be welcome.”
BT and the Scottish government are working together to enhance a further 80 exchanges across rural Scotland, including Lismore, in Argyll and Bute, which was also announced yesterday.
BT Scotland director Brendan Dick said: “Both upgrades have been extremely challenging for BT, involving a huge amount of planning, negotiations over the acquisition of land and the creation of new radio transmission links at both sites, so it’s great to see all the effort pay off for the people of Vidlin and Lismore.”
Enterprise minister Jim Mather added: “The Scottish government is working with BT to improve Scotland’s broadband infrastructure. We want to see more people in rural areas – including the business community – enjoy the benefits of being connected.”
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