Broadband fund helps complete another project in Northern Ireland

One of the aims of the Fund, which is co-financed under the European Regional Development Fund Sustainable Competitiveness Programme 2007-2013, is to increase the options for broadband delivery in Northern Ireland’s rural areas. Up to 50% of project costs are covered by the Fund.

 

The minister commented on the recent completion of a network extension across North Antrim’s coast, which she said was “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.” 

 

The business operating the network, North West Electronics, has already completed two additional projects through the Fund, and is now preparing to provide rural areas with higher speed connectivity. “The company has recently contracted with Hibernia Atlantic to purchase bandwidth on the Project Kelvin network,” Foster explained. “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.”