Northern Ireland gets big broadband investment
Northern Ireland businesses and homes are welcoming the promise of better broadband speeds after it was announced that ?48m has been pledged to improve broadband access in rural and urban areas over the next year and a half.
Businesses that are located in urban areas have the promise of 10Mbps, while those that are found in rural areas can at least look forward to a minimum of 2Mbps. The project is expected to take until May 2011 to complete.
Half of the money for the project will come from BT while the other half will be contributed from several different public funds including some funding from the European Union.
Arlene Foster the Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Investment stated that her department is looking forward to delivering the commitment program by the Executive Government.
Foster also said that broadband will help to increase the economy in the area as the services will help local businesses compete on a wider scale. Additionally she added that the million pound investment will create up to a thousand new jobs each year which will help boost the local economy.
Most of the improvement will be the result of fibre optic installation throughout Northern Ireland which increases the amount and speed that information can be transmitted as compared to fixed lines.
There will be 166 telephone exchanges upgraded and an additional 1,176 broadband access points created which should help everyone throughout the area get a better connection to the internet.
