Shetland Islands Council is planning a 3 year pilot project operated by Shetland Broadband to establish the viability of using wireless technology to deliver high speed broadband to Shetland communities. The two areas that have been earmarked for the project are Vidlin and Fetlar.

Homes and businesses in Vidlin and Fetlar will have the opportunity to take part in the project and get 2Mbps broadband. The current maximum speed in both areas in 0.5Mbps supplied from the BT exchanges.

Wireless broadband uses antennas and masts to supply broadband rather than using phone lines. The Council uses the same type of network to supply schools, care homes and ferry terminals with broadband connections.

Installation of the new network will start in May and it will be fully functioning by October 2009.

Shetland Broadband is pleased to announce the commissioning of the initial stages of it's Shetland Wide Area Network covering areas of Lerwick, Scalloway and Gulberwick.

This service offers SDL internet connectivity, private networking between premises and other specialist services, in the covered areas without the requirement for a telephone line, and supports upload speeds equal to the download speed which offers many advantages over conventional ADSL which can also be supplied. Our Network currently has an available upload and download speed of 4 Mbps to all covered areas for both upload and download. This is in comparison to standard ADSL which has an upload speed of just 0.25 Mbps and a download speed of up to 2 Mbps depending on distance from the telephone exchange. With a symmetric connection speed of 4 Mbps available, we are providing a level of service that is not available in many towns and cities of Scotland, thus giving businesses an opportunity to be ahead of many of their competitors.

We are working on plans to expand the network to other areas and increase the speed available to 10 Mbps, but are not yet at a stage to give firm dates. Shetland Broadband recognizes that not everyone needs the very fastest connections available and therefore offers a range of speeds and services to suit differing customer needs.

Shetland Internet has offered a local subscription free dial-up service since 1999, the service was offered by the then, locally based company, Zetnet Services Limited. However with the closure of their Shetland office in February 2005 control of Shetland Internet was moved to Manchester.

Shetland Broadband LLP has since acquired Shetland Internet from Zetnet and will continue to provide all the services previously offered still on a subscription free basis for legacy users. In addition an expanded range of products and services are now available enabling those not using a Shetland Internet dial-up account to use including being able to register "shetland.co.uk" sub-domains.