North Isles broadband set to be restored by Saturday

Broadband is to be restored to 500 homes and businesses affected by a month-long blackout by Saturday.

The update comes after the latest meeting of the Orkney Local Emergency Co-ordination Group (OLECG), which was briefed by the owners of the damaged subsea cable behind the disruption.

Cable repair vessel Pierre de Fermat arrived in the county, last week, to attend to the issue.

The blackout began on March 16 and is believed to have been caused by damage to a cable between Evie and Westray.

An OLECG spokesman said: “The Orkney Local Emergency Coordination Group (OLECG) met this afternoon to discuss the ongoing broadband outage affecting the Outer North Isles.

“The Group received an update from BT confirming that repair works being carried out by the specialist vessel are progressing well and remain on schedule to restore connectivity by Saturday, April 18.”