News
Corporate
March 2014
19
BT has awarded three firms a £26.9 million contract for an
ambitious subsea cabling project which will help deliver fast
fibre broadband to the Highlands and Islands in the UK.
Specialist vessels will lay 20 fibre optic submarine cables in
a precise operation during May to October, providing a fibre
broadband backbone which will eventually link communities
from Kintyre to Orkney.
The massive engineering effort is part of the £146 million
investment project launched with Highlands and Islands
Enterprise (HIE) last March to bring high-speed fibre broadband
to communities across the north of Scotland.
Chelmsford-based Global Marine Systems will conduct
detailed marine route surveys and supply the cables; Orange
Marine, which is based in France but works globally, has been
contracted to lay around 400 kilometres of subsea cables,
while Hampshire-based A-2-Sea Solutions has been chosen
to work onshore connecting the cables to BT’s terrestrial
network.
BT has a successful track record of working with all three
companies, who were chosen from a competitive tendering
process which featured several rival bids.
The longest cable will run for nearly 79km under the Minch from
Ullapool to Stornoway, with the Western Isles also benefitting
from a second link stretching more than 57km between Carnan
on South Uist, and Dunvegan on Skye.
Brendan Dick, director, BT Scotland, said: “Quite simply, it’s
the biggest subsea engineering project BT has undertaken in
UK territorial waters and is the first ever with so many seabed
crossings.
“The size of the task presents a massive challenge, not only
because of the number of cables involved but also the fact that
the work has to be completed within a single, six-month weather
window.
“The pressure is on but we’re confident that in just over a year’s
time, the Highlands and Islands will be set to benefit from its
own network of underwater, fibre optic cables.”
BT – UK
Website
:
BT awards £26.9m subsea cabling contract
FIB’s American appointment
FIB Belgium, specialist in heat treatment lines and
equipment for the steel wire industry, has appointed
Morgan Koch to represent it in the USA and Canadian
markets.
Bob Strauss or Jay Diman at Morgan Koch can be contacted
on +1 832 363 3799 or +1 508 793 1945.
FIB SA – Belgium
Website
: ww.fib.be
