Repair to damaged Shetland internet cable delayed

Residents of Lerwick have been among those affected

Repairs to the sub-sea cable which brings internet services to Shetland are expected to take more than a week.

The cable was damaged in rough seas on Friday in shallow waters about a mile off the coast of Orkney.

Communications company OpenReach said some broadband services in Shetland have been affected, including Talk Talk customers in Lerwick.

The SHEFA-2 Cable is owned by Faroese Telecom and was last damaged in July.

OpenReach said the majority of customers still had a service and phone connections remained "up and running".

It was previously reported Orkney was also affected, but OpenReach said there was no impact on the islands.

The BBC has so far been unable to confirm how many customers have been affected by the latest disruption.

Hundreds of people lost services in July, although the initial estimates were that thousands had been affected.

The cable, which links Orkney, Shetland and the Faroe Islands to mainland Scotland, was also damaged in October 2022 in an incident thought to have involved a fishing vessel.

'Extra work'

Speaking on Around Orkney, Faroese Telecom managing director Páll Vesturbú said the location of the repair is affecting how long it will take to restore services.

"We have contacted the company that does the repair for us so they are preparing. Since it's so close to the shore [there] needs to be some extra work, some extra preparation to make sure that everything is ready when the vessel arrives," he said.

"So that has stayed off the repair just now. I hope it can be no more than a week but it's a bit difficult to say."

Writing on social media, the Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael said: "I have contacted the various telecommunications companies operating in the isles to understand better what sort of issues are at play and who is affected.

"We have to hope that the disruption will be minimal and short-lived.

"Even so, this will be a good test of whether the promises of more responsive communications from telecoms providers following the problems in the summer will be borne out in reality."

Talk Talk said it was providing its customers with updates.