North Isles Connectivity Issues – Public Update

What’s been happening?

From Monday 16 March, reports were received of broadband and mobile phone outages in Orkney’s North Isles affecting broadband-dependent services including digital phone lines, card-payment systems, some mobile 4G services and internet access in homes, as well as internet access and digital phones at Council sites including schools and some local GP practices.

Following investigations, BT confirmed the cause as damage to a subsea cable between Evie and Westray, which will require repair.

When will the broadband issues be resolved?

A specialist repair vessel has been mobilised to carry out this work and will make its way to Orkney as soon as possible. It had been hoped that the vessel would have been on site this week (w/b 30 March) but due to weather conditions this is now likely to be next week. The duration of the actual repairs is not yet known

In the meantime, BT and other providers have been exploring and implementing interim solutions to support communities on the islands.  This has included specialist engineers being in the county to get core services like doctors’ surgeries and schools connected again, as well as the setting up of community hubs – dedicated points where isles residents can get internet access.

What about mobile providers?

There has been good progress from mobile providers on getting their masts back up and running this. Their status is as follows

Three/Vodafone masts

• The Sanday Three mast stayed on throughout. Sanday Vodafone mast came back on 26 Mar using a satellite link. 
• The Westray mast was fixed on 25 Mar,
• The North Ronaldsay mast was fixed  on  Fri 27 Mar.

For O2 (VMO2):

• 3 of 3 masts are back on via satellite. 

Intermittent issues are being experienced – particularly when demand is very high – and this is being worked on by the mobile providers.

To help people stay online, Vodafone has been sending mobile Wi‑Fi (MiFi) to home broadband customers and adding 50GB extra data to eligible mobile accounts linked to broadband.

An eSIM (digital SIM) rollout continues. 800 were issued 21–22 Mar, and Vodafone are prioritising residents still without service.  They have also produced a new QR code which has been shared with communities. Activations are available between 8:00 and 20:00 and will be available for 7-days. Users will have access to a 7-day trial once enabled.

If you are a Vodafone customer and haven’t heard from them, please make get in touch with them.

I though BT were here to fix things last weekend – but my broadband isn’t working still.

BT Emergency Response Teams have been in the islands working to establish temporary solutions for essential services, such as care homes, schools and doctors’ surgeries.  

Other solutions such as community hubs have been put in place through resilience arrangements on each island and communicated locally.

Residents are strongly encouraged to contact their individual mobile and broadband providers for information and advice specific to their service, as some providers are offering temporary data solutions where available.

Where is my community hub going to be?

Community hubs – and their status - are as follows:

Complete

• Eday  - Eday Community Enterprise, Millbounds, Eday – KW17 2AB
• Sanday – Sanday Development Trust, Heilsa Fjold, Sanday – KW17 2BN
• Stronsay – Stronsay Development Trust, Unit 1, Woods Yard, Stronsay, KW17 2AR

Equipment in transit

• North Ronaldsay – Trebb, North Ronaldsay – KW17 2BE
• Papay – Papay Development Trust, St Tredwell’s House, Papa Westray – KW17 2BU
• Westray – Westray Development Trust, Unit 1, Quarry Road, Pierowall, Westray – KW17 2AR

Are the schools connected again?

Yes, work has now been completed to restore some connectivity to our isles’ schools - and to Kalisgarth Care Home too.  It should be noted though that this is across satellite broadband and 4G connections – meaning that there isn’t as much bandwidth as before.  The connections will be slower, and schools will be able to do less things online until the cable is repaired.  Issues are also being experienced with intermittent connection issues and we are working with suppliers to resolve this.

Are the doctors’ surgeries connected again – and what about 999?

Yes, work has taken place to reconnect doctors’ surgeries in Eday, Sanday, Stronsay, Papay and North Ronaldsay. Emergency Services have confirmed that their airwave and radio comms were unaffected and that the 999 Emergency Services network is unaffected.

What about vulnerable customers – people with care alarms for example?

Through OLECG (the Orkney Local Emergency Coordination Group) we have co-ordinated the identification of vulnerable people in the community and care visits. Our Health & Care team have been regularly running a PARD (Persons at Risk Dataset) to ensure all people needing visits are prioritised, including additional visits to those with digital (VOIP) phones and Care Alarms, These lists have been provided to BT - with due consideration  of data protection and privacy by our Information Governance Officer – to ensure these households are prioritised for future repair work

Has OLECG been meeting throughout and what is their role?

The Orkney Local Emergency Coordination Group (OLECG) began meeting on 18 March to coordinate the response to the incident as well as to receive regular updates from BT. They have met regularly since then and are now meeting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

OLECGs main role is to oversee the co-ordination of the response by the multiple organisations.  Part of that is ensuring that   vulnerable residents are supported, and to also work with the providers to facilitate the necessary repair works as a matter of urgency.

The community haven’t been directly contacted by ‘OLECG’ – why not?

OLECG is Orkney’s resilience partnership. It’s formed of a broad range of partner organisations such as the Council, emergency and public services, transport providers, the utilities and voluntary sector – with the Scottish Government resilience team also attending where needed.

At each meeting each individual partner organisation provides an update from their own sector area, any emerging issues are discussed through and a partner approach agreed. 

OLECG itself therefore wouldn’t be in direct contact with the communities – this connection would come from these various partners.  In the case of impacts on the community, Community Councils have been in contact with Orkney Islands Council and isles Development Trusts have been feeding information into their contacts at the Scottish Government and Voluntary Action Orkney, with that information then being fed into OLECG through them.

We recognise that Development Trusts reported that there had been a lack of contact with them and efforts are underway to improve this.

Following each OLECG meeting, a public update is published as soon as possible to share the latest information with affected communities. This complements any information being provided directly by BT and individual service providers to customers on temporary measures available until full connections are restored.

Who can I contact with any issues?

 Community Councils and Development Trusts in each island area are feeding information directly into OLECG through Orkney Islands Council, Voluntary Action Orkney and the Scottish Government Digital Directorate.  Community Councils should email communitycouncils@orkney.gov.uk to raise any particular issues and Development Trusts can email rosalind.aitken@vaorkney.org.uk