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By Promote ShetlandMay 2nd 2013

The small community around West Burrafirth, one of the remoter parts of the Shetland mainland, has set up its own high-speed broadband service.

The area is not well served by the existing telecommunications network and broadband speeds were sometimes no better than 0.16Mbps, much lower than most areas of Shetland experience. Now, thanks to a local initiative, residents are enjoying some of the fastest broadband links in Britain, with speeds of around 25Mbps.

It's been achieved thanks to lottery funding and excellent cooperation from Shetland Broadband, which has undertaken similar projects elsewhere in Shetland, and H Williamson and Son of Scalloway, who erected the mast and equipment. The service uses radio to connect the West Burrafirth mast with another near Lerwick, where a link is made into the SHEFA-2 fibre optic cable that links Faroe, Shetland and Scotland.

Other remote communities in Shetland have benefitted from imaginative broadband solutions and you can read more here.