Increased broadband for rural areas in Northern Ireland

Rural areas in Northern Ireland are set to get improved broadband services following the completion of another project through the Northern Ireland Broadband Fund.

It has been announced that rural areas in Northern Ireland are set to get improved broadband as a result of the completion of another project through the Northern Ireland Broadband Fund. The announcement over increased broadband in rural areas of Northern Ireland was made by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster.

The project will aim to improve access to broadband and provide more options for broadband delivery in rural areas of Northern Ireland. The fund is partly financed through the European Regional Development Fund Sustainable Competitiveness Programme 2007-2013.

Arlene Foster said: “This is very welcome news and is further evidence of the commitment that my Department has made to getting high quality broadband services into the most rural locations of Northern Ireland. North West Electronics has already completed two projects supported under the Broadband Fund, and is already delivering valued broadband services across the rural West, North Sperrins and the Foyle Basin. And now, with the completion of this part of the network, the company intends to deliver broadband services into areas prioritised by my Department across the North Antrim Coast including Ballintoy, Straid, Port Bradden, Dunseverick, Mosside, Lagavara and Maghercashel.”

She also said: “The company has recently contracted with Hibernia Atlantic to purchase bandwidth on the Project Kelvin network. Using the support provided by my Department under the Broadband Fund, the company has also installed a number of higher speed broadband links on this part of its network.As a consequence, it can now offer higher specification services and has decided to increase its base service from 2Mbps to 5Mbps at no additional cost to customers. Access to next generation broadband services is now a reality for some of the most rural parts of Northern Ireland. Our key objective is to continue to encourage the emergence of affordable, high speed broadband services in such areas, providing conditions for the growth of local enterprises. This is a significant step in that direction.”

Source – 4ni