We’ve had another update from BT on the repair of our damaged subsea fibre cable, and it’s not the news we were hoping for.
The repair won’t start this week. Weather forecasts aren’t giving a long enough window of calm conditions for the team to work safely.
BT’s engineers need five consecutive days of stable conditions – with relatively low wind speeds and sea swell – to allow the repair vessel and machinery to operate safely near the shore.
They’re now targeting Wednesday 12 November as the start date.
What we’ve been told:
- Tiree remains a priority repair under the Atlantic Cable Maintenance Agreement
- The repair vessel is on standby and will deploy as soon as conditions allow
- BT have been asked whether work could start sooner if the forecast improves
- BT have been asked what additional on-shore preparation can be done in the meantime
- BT have been asked what the contingency plans are if poor weather continues into mid-November
The Scottish Government Digital Department is continuing to press BT on all these points and will share updates as soon as there’s anything new. There’s another call with BT tomorrow afternoon.
We know how frustrating this is. We hope we have better news soon.
