NI ahead of rest of UK in race for faster broadband
MORE than half of Northern Ireland homes can now access gigabit-speed broadband, according to a new report.
It means NI has the highest coverage of the faster, more reliable connection than any other nation, according to Ofcom’s annual Connected Nations report.
The watchdog analysed the availability of broadband and mobile services across the UK.
Gigabit-capable broadband offers download speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s, much faster than the UK’S current average broadband speed of 72 Mbit/s.
More than half of Northern Ireland homes (56%) — 422,000 — can get gigabit broadband making it the highest availability of these faster services, compared to 42% of Scottish homes, 25% in England and 19% in Wales.
And availability is set to improve further with the main network providers planning further investment.
Openreach says it expects its full fibre network to reach 60% of premises in Northern Ireland by March 2021, while Virgin Media and Fibrus are continuing to expand their full fibre footprints. Virgin Media’s recent speeds upgrade to its network in Northern
Ireland will further boost gigabit coverage.
For those premises that still can’t get good broadband, the report highlights the key role of Project Stratum, which is being funded by £150m from the UK Government and £15m from the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, It aims to bring next generation broadband to premises across Northern Ireland, which are currently unable to access superfast broadband (offering speeds of 30 Mbit/s or more).
The Department for the Economy, which is managing the project, estimates it will benefit 97% of those premises. The winning bidder to deliver the project, Fibrus Networks, is proposing to connect more than 76,000 premises with a “full fibre solution” — capable of delivering 1 Gbit/s download speeds.
Ofcom Northern Ireland director Jonathan Rose, said: “Lockdown would have been even more difficult without reliable broadband to work, learn, play and see loved ones.
“So it’s encouraging that future-proof, gigabit broadband is now available to more than half of homes in Northern Ireland, and we expect that to rise even faster in the coming months.”