Belfast will soon become a “super-connected” city

The government is taking an active stand in pushing for superfast broadband in the UK. Through the Broadband Delivery UK project, the government hopes to even out the playing field in the broadband industry. It also hopes to provide the whole of Britain with universal broadband access of at least 2Mbps. The government has also set 2015 as the target year wherein ninety percent of the UK will already have next-generation broadband access.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer recently delivered his Autumn Statement, where he revealed that the government will be putting an additional £100 million in funding to help speed up the deployment of broadband networks in urban areas in the UK.

Through the National Infrastructure Programme report, the government stated: “The government will invest £100m to create up to 10 ‘super-connected cities’ across the UK, with 80-100 megabits per second broadband and city-wide high-speed mobile connectivity.” The report was published right after the chancellor finished his speech on the budget allocations and cuts in the Commons.

One of the areas that will be benefiting from the additional funding is Belfast. The city will soon become “super-connected” thanks to George Osborne’s urban broadband fund. Belfast is one of four cities that have been named to receive the additional funds.

Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster emphasised that it was crucial to develop the economic infrastructure in order to rebuild the company, stating: “This will encourage new businesses to flourish in key creative industries requiring super-connectivity, and allow home-grown businesses to compete globally. Our challenge is to ensure that we secure an allocation which allows the city to continue its development as a telecoms exemplar. I would encourage Londonderry, Newry and Lisburn to consider their telecommunications ambitions and to ensure that they participate in this competition.”

She added: “It is for each city to decide the geographical area covered by their plans and to set out their ambitions. This will require innovative thinking on ways in which super-connectivity can contribute to digital infrastructure-led growth.”

Source – Belfast Telegraph