Pathfinder North Rollout Completed

The rollout of the £70m high-speed Pathfinder North network across the Scottish Highlands and Islands was completed today (Monday 21st December 2009).

Cromarty Primary School in the Highland Council area was the last of 800 sites to be connected, along with Shapinsay Primary School which also signaled the completion of the project in Orkney.

Pathfinder North was developed to implement a high-speed future-proof broadband network across the Highlands and Islands local authorities, largely funded by the Scottish Government.

Pathfinder North is a partnership of five local authorities:

• Argyll and Bute Council
• Highland Council
• Moray Council
• Orkney Islands Council
• Shetland Islands Council

who came together to facilitate a combined solution to broadband implementation across the region.

The network was implemented and managed by Cable and Wireless and uses a mixture of radio, fibre and BT lines for connectivity.