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Broadband and mobile giant VodafoneThree (Vodafone and Three UK) has announced the launch of another feasibility study into the possibility of deploying a new high-speed subsea fibre optic cable, which could link Scotland with Shetland and then onwards to Norway. Research from WPI Strategy claims this could deliver £8.2bn in economic value over the next 10 years.
The idea of running a new subsea link between Scotland and Shetland is one that Vodafone has examined before. But clearly they now view it as being more viable to conduct this as part of a larger project that could also introduce an additional link into Europe via Norway.
Shetland is currently already connected by two major subsea fibre cables, including the SHEFA-2 (Faroese Telecom) link and the publicly funded R100 North cable that was recently built by broadband giant BT as part of the Scottish Government’s £600m Reaching 100% (R100) project (here). The R100 project also deployed a number of smaller subsea fibre links between mainland Shetland and its smaller islands.