MP Ian Blackford has slammed BT’s response to broadband problems in the Highlands as “not good enough.”
It follows BT bosses facing the fury of customers on Skye – where some businesses have gone back to using post instead of the internet after becoming frustrated by slow broadband speeds.
BT said it has resolved a fault that affected broadband on parts of Skye and was planning to upgrade an exchange.
The meeting heard the concerns of local people after widespread outages on Skye over the Christmas period and continuing lack of connectivity on the island.
Many BT customers who attended the meeting also complained about engineers failing to arrive for booked appointments, without warning or explanation.
Mr Blackford said: “While BT have apologised for the difficulties there have been in providing services throughout the island, they blame poor weather both for the faults generated and for the time to respond and fix the problems.
“This is simply not good enough. They and we know the weather conditions that prevail here and they must build into their network the level of resilience that can deal with what, for us, are pretty normal weather related challenges.
“Whilst we would all accept that weather can result in problems, I would contrast the speed of response and the level of customer service from the power utilities with that of BT.
“I am thankful that BT came to Portree to listen to local people. They now must respond and deliver a much better level of service to the Isle of Skye and to communities throughout the Highlands and Islands.”
A spokesman for BT said several pieces of equipment have been replaced.
The spokesman said BT also plans to replace kit at its Urray exchange near Muir of Ord, one of the broadband routes between the north of Skye and Inverness.