Full fibre networks now live in housing development in Orkney

December 19, 2018 at 10:10 am

Pictured from left at the Grainbank development in Kirkwall are Stephen Kemp of Orkney Builders, Craig Shearer, Openreach ops manager for Orkney, and, in the background, Dominic Dransfield, Openreach’s newest recruit on Orkney.

HOUSING developments in Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles will be among the best connected in Scotland, with access to reliable ultrafast broadband.

This is according to Openreach who is working with local developers to build full fibre networks direct to dozens of new homes, including here in Kirkwall.

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) offers greater capacity, more reliability and is capable of broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps – around 22 times faster than the current UK average of 46.2Mbps.

Engineers have installed around 5,900 metres of new core fibre cabling to reach the sites.

The new full fibre networks – installed by Openreach at no cost to the developers – build on the core fibre infrastructure put in place by the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project, led in the area by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The first premises to benefit are at Orkney Builders’ Grainbank development in Kirkwall where all 32 houses are now able to connect to ultrafast broadband.

Futher details in The Orcadian next week.