The Orkney and Shetland fibre contract still has not been signed
Nearly two years after it went out to tender, the contract meant to bring full fibre to the hardest to reach homes in Orkney and Shetland still has not been signed. Shetland News reported on 31 August that the Scottish Government has confirmed the £40.7m Project Gigabit contract for the Northern Isles is now only expected to be awarded later this year. It was meant to be awarded in 2025.
The money and the target have not moved. Around 13,550 premises across the two island groups are thought to be eligible, which means the addresses left out of the Scottish Government’s R100 contract and out of what Openreach is building commercially. What has moved is the clock. The contract notice went out in December 2024 with an award estimated for October 2025, and on the timetable in that notice the build would take roughly four years once it starts, finishing around the end of 2030.
What it means if you live there
Nothing about your line changes this week. What changes is what you can reasonably expect, and when. Highland Broadband has confirmed it is one of the bidders, and its managing director Colin Woodward told Shetland News there is still no firm date for the outcome. Until somebody signs, the four year build has not started.
The 13,550 is worth treating carefully as well. It is an estimate of how many premises might qualify, not a list of addresses anyone has promised to connect. As reported by ISPreview, the final coverage and funding will depend on the negotiation and on what the chosen supplier judges it can build inside the budget, which works out at about £3,000 per premises. The same report notes that complex procurements often slip, and that the cost here is high because of how remote and difficult the Northern Isles are to build in.
What to do while it is decided
Watch the scheme rather than wait for it. R100 and Openreach’s own commercial building have already reached parts of the isles, so the question worth answering is what reaches your address today, and only the availability checker can tell you that. If somebody has already given you a date, our guide on when the rollout reaches your street sets out how much weight a build date is worth.
The Northern Isles are not alone in the queue. Two Scottish Project Gigabit contracts have already been signed, the Borders and East Lothian in February 2025 and North East Scotland that July, and Shetland News reports that more awards are expected across 2026 and 2027, including Fife and parts of Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. We reported last month that the scheme nationally is about a third of the way through the homes it has under contract, so a slow award is the normal speed of this thing rather than a surprise.