3 days ago
Orkney and Shetland internet cable to be fixed by next weekend, say owners
Damage to the undersea communications cable which has affected internet services in Orkney and Shetland should be fixed by next weekend, the cable's owners have company Shefa said damage to the cable between Orkney and Banff was most likely to have been caused by a fishing has led to disruption for hundreds of broadband customers in the islands since it was reported at about 03:00 on was initially thought up to 10,000 people would be affected. Most have now had their services restored.
Shefa spokesman Pall Vesterbu told BBC Radio Orkney a repair vessel would be at the site of the break around 5.5 miles (99km) from Orkney this week to assess the damage and and fix the Vesterbu said it was probably a fishing boat which caused the damage but the company could not be sure until inspections have been carried is calling on fishing boats to avoid fishing directly over the cables and to keep their Automatic Identification System (AIS) indicators on at all times so they can be warned if they are fishing too close to the cable provider OpenReach initially said 10,000 customers had been affected but then scaled that back to "hundreds".The Balfour Hospital's switchboard and phone system has been restored after it went down on Saturday, with patients asked to call a mobile number while it was being Shefa-2 cable provides a wholesale link which is used by telecoms companies to deliver services to their is used by OpenReach to deliver the broadband network to the islands, which is then sold on by individual companies like EE, Vodaphone, Sky and PlusNet in different is one reason why customers and businesses have had different experiences this weekend - with some experiencing no interruption, others coming back on overnight, and some taking longer to be restored.
