Major outage to phone, mobile and internet on Shetland after ‘break’ in undersea cable

A break in an undersea cable has caused serious disruption to landline, internet and mobile services in the Shetland Islands.

Police said on Thursday morning that engineers were “working to fix a complete outage affecting its connection to the main line”.

The Shetland Times reported that the disruption could last until the end of Saturday and said BT had texted customers to say it was trying to fix a “major outage”.

Many shops are unable to process card payments and cash machines are not working, according to local media.

However, Shetland Broadband services are understood to be unaffected.

BT said the outage was caused by a “break” in a third-party undersea cable.

“Engineers are working to divert services via other routes as soon as possible and we’ll provide further updates. Our external subsea provider is also looking to restore their link quickly,” said a BT Group statement.

The islands are connected via a cable that runs from the Faroe Islands to Aberdeenshire in mainland Scotland.

Sky News understands the outage is currently considered unlikely to have been the act of a hostile state.

Shetland is about 100 miles from the north coast of Scotland and 16 of its islands are inhabited, with a population of around 23,000.

It’s known for its wild landscapes and Viking and Scandinavian influences.

Fishing is a major part of its economy – more fish is landed in Shetland than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined.

The oil industry is also a big player, but Shetland is hoping to transition to become a global hub for wind and tidal energy.