Not exactly a cheap project! What is the population of the Hebrides? 45,000? That means it has cost £600/person or around £2000 per household and the article suggests that is just the cost of getting the new fibre cables out to the exchanges. It will benefit voice connectivity as well as Broadband although I wonder how many people or premises will actually upgrade to FTTC?
The objections, I hear, may have actually come from the fishermen ... The Crown Commissioners raised no objections to the installation. It will almost certainly be trenched - normally done with a remotely operated plough that cuts the trench and the cable drops in before some back filling allowing the sea to finish the covering, then at low tide, excavators drive down the beach and race to get the last part of the trench in place.
The coming ashore at Craignure means a 25 mile link up to Tobermory which also needed installation.
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