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BT completes Northern Ireland Next Generation Network project first phase

31 August 2011

BTwatch Report #223 

Covering: July-August 2011
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Next report: September 2011
Pages: 58
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Arlene Foster, Enterprise Minister for the Northern Ireland Assembly, announced that BT Group has completed the initial construction phase of the Next Generation Broadband Project to roll out faster broadband across Northern Ireland (NI) to time and budget.

Under a deal signed in 2009 (BTwatch, 2009.10), the project was jointly funded by BT (£29.8m) and the European Regional Development Fund through the UK’s Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) (£16.5m), with a further £1.5m invested from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) under the European Union’s (EU) ERADF Rural Development Programme. The additional DARD and EU investment subsequently sparked an additional outlay from DARD, DETI, and BT totalling £4m.

Under the scheme, BT has upgraded equipment in 166 exchanges, provided 1, 265 new access points across Northern Ireland, and deployed fibre-optic cable deeper into Northern Ireland’s cities, towns, villages, and rural areas. Next-generation access is said to be available to 85% of businesses, offering minimum download speeds of 10Mbps for operations in urban areas, and 2Mbps in rural areas.

Graham Sutherland, Chief Executive of BT Ireland, said that at least 89% of all phone lines will be connected to a fibre-enabled street cabinet by March 2012.

Network there, but where’s demand?

While BT trumpeted the availability of its high-speed network in Northern Ireland, its announcement is worth considering in the context of Ofcom’s recent map of broadband availability across the UK.

This indicated that Northern Ireland had the highest levels of super-fast broadband coverage in the UK, apparently available for more than 90% of the population across almost the entire region. However, it also showed that the area had among the highest proportion of customers receiving broadband speeds of less than 2Mbps. More than 20% of the user base outside the city of Belfast is using broadband services at levels around those available at the turn of the century, suggesting that rollout from BT has not been matched by a shift in customers.

While it is still relatively early days for the Northern Ireland rollout project, and more time should be given before its success can be determined, it is hoped that improving trends will be soon seen to justify the investment from BT and the public sector. It is probably not a coincidence that swatches of Northern Ireland record some of the lowest levels of broadband uptake in the UK; and there is now an opportunity to build a customer base that proves there is pent-up demand for high-speed broadband services.

[Further reference: Foster announces completion of Next Generation Broadband Project -- Northern Ireland Executive, 27 July 2011; £52m scheme rolls out even faster broadband -- Belfast Telegraph, 29 July 2011.]

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Written by AB · Filed Under BTwatch (BT Group) 

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