Communities to Benefit

TWO SMALL Shetland communities are to benefit from high speed broadband thanks to a £100,000 investment by Shetland Islands’ Council.

As part of a three year pilot study most householders and businesses in the village of Vidlin and the small island of Fetlar will be able to access wireless broadband with a speed of at least 2Mb as of this summer.

The move follows widespread frustration with British Telecom’s limited ADSL broadband provision which offers 11 island exchanges a 0.5Mb broadband connection under a government-funded programme.

But businesses in the remotest parts of Shetland have been suffering from unreliable and slow connections.

Shetland Islands Council has now entered into an agreement with telecoms company THUS, owned by Cable & Wireless, to use available capacity on the existing Pathfinder North project for the benefit of the wider community.

Pathfinder North connects all council properties such as offices, schools and ferry terminals via a wireless broadband with speeds up to 8Mb or more.

The Council’s Economic Development unit estimates that at least 50 businesses and households in Vidlin and a further 20 on Fetlar will take up the offer to connect to the system for a similar cost BT charges for ADSL.

Public meetings to inform the communities of the next steps in the process are now being planned.

The pilot was welcomed yesterday (Friday) by businesswoman Helen Erwood who runs an international pharmaceutical consultancy from her home in Vidlin.

For years, the Erwoods and other users in the village have been campaigning for better broadband to allow them to do business from their remote home.

She said: “We welcome the SIC’s investment in the wireless broadband trial. It demonstrates an appreciation that Shetland needs to considerably improve its future commitments to having communications networks that adequately support e-business activities.

“Businesses like ours, which are based and staffed from Shetland, but with clients mostly in Europe and the US, need to be able to compete on a level playing field with mainland companies if they are to continue to thrive within and support the local economy.”