By Stornoway Gazette
BT has awarded three firms a £26.9 million contract for an ambitious subsea cabling project which will help deliver fast, fibre broadband to the Highlands and Islands. Specialist vessels will lay 20 fibre optic submarine cables in a precise operation during May to October next year, providing a fibre broadband backbone which will eventually link communities from Kintyre to Orkney. The massive engineering effort is part of the £146 million investment project launched with Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) in March to bring high-speed fibre broadband to communities across the north of Scotland.