Shetland Islands cut off from Internet

Due to damage to two submarine cables, the Scottish Shetland Islands were temporarily cut off from the Internet. The disruption to the approximately 20,000 inhabitants was enormous. However, the connection was quickly restored, at least provisionally.

Two submarine cables damaged

The Shetland Islands are connected to the Faroe Islands and to the Scottish mainland via one submarine cable each. The cable to the Faroe Islands was initially damaged, and shortly afterwards the connection to the Scottish mainland also failed. The consequences of an Internet outage in Shetland described by local House of Commons member Alistair Carmichael as drastic: “It’s as if someone has flipped a switch and catapulted us 20 to 30 years into the past.” Carmichael also made the point that the Internet is central to all aspects of daily life: “Communications are central to modern life, to business, to emergency services and to education.”

The consequences were felt accordingly. For example, all ATMs on the islands failed. Card payments were also not possible anywhere due to the cut Internet connection. Even more drastic was the fact that emergency services could not be reached via mobile communications. Anyone who wanted to alert the police, ambulance or fire department had to rely on a landline connection – or had to visit the nearest branch of the respective organization in person.

Cause unclear

The cause of the failure of both cable connections to Shetland has not yet been clarified. Some media reports, for example in SPIEGEL, spoke of a trawl fishing vessel having damaged the cables. Ian Brown, partner at Internet provider Shetland Broadband, on the other hand, stated that the cause has not been conclusively determined: “We don’t know if the cable got caught on a ship or if it was lifted and subsequently caught by the current.” Brown further pointed out that this is a very rare or unlikely event to occur. He likened it to storm damage.

According to BBC and Brown, the cable to the Scottish mainland, unlike the one to the Faroe Islands, was not completely ruptured. That, in turn, meant that a temporary repair could be made. As of noon today (21.10.22), the Shetland Islands are therefore connected to the Internet again. The outage was thus limited to about one day. The repairs are expected to be fully completed in the coming week.