McArthur calls out response to subsea cable fault

Liam McArthur, Scottish Liberal Democrat candidate for the Orkney Islands, has today criticised the poor response from BT and other network providers regarding the ongoing connectivity outage in Orkney’s outer isles, caused by damage to a subsea cable.   

The fault was confirmed on 16 March, and BT were identified as responsible for carrying out the repair. Islanders continue to face lack of connectivity several weeks on, with a full repair now not expected until mid-April.  

Mr McArthur has today written to BT's Chief Executive to highlight concerns with the approach taken to contingency measures and communications with customers.   

Commenting, Mr McArthur said:   

“When a subsea cable fault caused widespread outages in the Northern Isles last summer, I was clear that lessons would need to be learned by network providers. As many islanders have come to discover in recent weeks, this clearly hasn’t happened.   

“That we are seeing another fault of this scale in less than a year is a stark reminder of how reliant we are on subsea infrastructure for connectivity.   

“Having spent the past week and half visiting some of the islands worst affected, it is clear that households and businesses have been hit hard by this most recent outage. While I appreciate that recent weather conditions have made repair efforts difficult, I am deeply concerned by the lack of support and communication provided by BT and other providers.   

“All providers must now give urgent attention to how systems can be put in place which allow customers to be automatically migrated onto alternative phone and broadband services when outages occur, regardless of their provider or what package they’re on.  

“Where this may require compensation from one provider to another this can and should be resolved business to business rather than requiring customers to scramble around trying to find out what’s going on and a solution to the problems they are facing.   

“It is also frankly astonishing that BT have refused requests for interviews from local media in Orkney. If a similar fault had affected Edinburgh or Glasgow, there is no question that BT could or would have avoided giving interviews or updates to the press. Even where there may be uncertainty, islanders have a right to be kept updated. The current vacuum of information from BT and other providers is only making the situation worse.   

“I have demanded answers from BT and will seek similar assurances from other providers too. In an increasingly digital age, this level of response to the needs of islanders is just not acceptable.”