High-speed satellite broadband now available in rural areas in Northern Ireland

Internet service providers are clambering to provide fibre broadband in the urban areas. But rural areas aren’t in as much luck, as there are a few added challenges that ISPs aren’t willing to handle or shoulder yet. However, many people are lobbying for broadband services in rural areas and they’re also starting to get results.

It was revealed previously that rural areas in Wales were set to receive superfast broadband thanks to BT Broadband. Because of this, another 130,000 homes and businesses from 33 communities, which include Brecon, Builth Wells, Kidwelly, Aberystwyth, Treorchy, Gilwern, Menai Bridge and Denbigh, will be able to gain access to faster broadband by the summer of 2012.

Now Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster announced that Onwave Ltd has been awarded with the contract to provide high-speed satellite broadband services to Northern Ireland. Areas in the region which had previously been inaccessible for telephone lines will now be connected to high-speed broadband services that could improve businesses, education, and other facilities and systems in the area.

Minister Foster stated: “I look forward to working with Onwave over the next three years as they roll-out delivery of their new broadband services. The products on offer mark an evolution in satellite broadband technology. Although there is an increase in costs for the new services, they are of a significantly higher specification than those previously available.”

Source – Inside Ireland