Cable damage impact ‘more limited than initially thought’

Hundreds — rather than thousands — of internet users in Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands were affected by damage to a subsea internet cable yesterday.

It was initially suggested that up to 10,000 customers could be affected by the incident, which took place at approximately 3am on Saturday.

Openreach, which maintains telephone and internet infrastructure nationwide now says that the impact is “more limited than initially thought”.

This damaged to the SHEFA 2 cable comes almost three years after a similar incident led Shetland Islands Council to declare a major incident.

This incident appears to have affected a number of homes and businesses in Orkney throughout Saturday, with many experiencing problems with their WiFi.

A spokesman for Openreach told The Orcadian, on Sunday: “We’ll continue to assess, but customer broadband impact is more limited than initially thought, with hundreds of customers disrupted.

“Landline calls were never impacted, and we’ll continue to work hard to resolve and repair.”

Meanwhile, NHS Orkney has confirmed that its phone lines are back up and running after its switchboard service went down on Saturday. The health authority was forced to re-direct incoming calls to a mobile number and said its staff were also experiencing issues making outgoing calls. 

More on this story in this coming week’s edition of The Orcadian.