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Subsea cables successfully repaired in Shetland

Lerwick from the sea.
The man was taken to Shetland from his cruise ship. Image: Matthias Graben/Shutterstock.

BT Group has confirmed that the subsea cable, which was damaged leaving Shetland without broadband, has been successfully repaired by its Faroese owners.

The islands were completely cut off on Thursday, October 20, after subsea cables were damaged, which connect the mainland with Shetland and on to the Faroe Islands.

According to Pall Vesturbu, the head of infrastructure for Faroese Telecom fishing vessels may have caused the damage.

The incident left islanders without broadband or mobile services, with police declaring it a “major incident”.

Map showing subsea cable from mainland Scotland to Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands
The subsea cable connects Shetland and Orkney to the mainland.

An emergency hub has been set up at the Tesco car park in Lerwick for those without in need.

Additional police and vehicles were deployed to the island from across Scotland to assist in the response.

Faroese Telecoms, the owners of the subsea cable, deployed a team of engineers to fix this issue, with most services being restored on Thursday following the “temporary” repair.

BT Group has now confirmed that Faroese Telecoms have successfully repaired the damage to the subsea cables.

In a statement, a BT spokesman said: “Following the restoration of all broadband and mobile services to Shetland on Thursday afternoon, Faroese Telecom has confirmed today on Saturday, that their subsea cable connecting Shetland with the Faroe Islands has been successfully repaired.

“All services have remained stable since Thursday afternoon when engineers applied a temporary solution to reconnect Shetland to our network.”

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