Households in Shetland were told it would cost an eye-watering amount to connect them to the internet despite a government scheme.

Communities in the Shetland Isles have been quoted more than £700,000 to have their homes connected to superfast broadband for the first time.

More than 1,800 households in some of the most remote parts of the islands have been excluded from the delayed R100 scheme – designed to bring faster internet connections to the area.

Instead, homeowners have been forced to rely on the Scottish broadband voucher scheme (SBVS), which offers a £5,000 grant to help meet the costs of setting up the connection, but only four applications have been received so far.

One local was quoted a whopping £725,000 by BT when they enquired about adding 15 properties on the islands to the broadband grid.

MSP Beatrice Wishart has since written to finance secretary Kate Forbes over the issue, branding the scheme a “missed opportunity”.

She said: “Out of more than 1,800 properties only four applications have been received for the main voucher, and only three have so far been issued.