BT to deliver 10Mbps minimum broadband speed to Northern Ireland UK by 2011

Telecoms giant BT has been awarded at least £48m in project to provide Northern Ireland with up to 10Mpbs broadband connection speed by May 2011. Under the project signed by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI), BT will deploy Fibre-to-the-Cabinet technology to businesses in the region.

Upon completion, businesses can expect maximum broadband speeds of up to 40Mbps, with the lowest performance seen to reach between 10 and 15Mbps downstream. Upstream speeds between 2 and 15 Mbps are expected.

The contract with BT to provide Northern Ireland with faster broadband speeds was in line with the government’s Universal Service Commitment programme which aims to bring a minimum broadband connection speed of 2Mbps across the country by 2012.

At least £30m of the project’s fund will be financed by BT, while the DETI will shoulder the additional £18m under the European Regional Development Fund’s (ERDF) European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) Rural Development Programme.

Northern Ireland has some of the slowest broadband speeds in the UK and the project is a welcome news for residents in the region.

The contract with BT will deliver faster speeds through the accelerated deployment of fibre optic cable. There will be upgrades to equipment across 166 exchanges (plus 1,176 new access points) and the introduction of new technology to increase broadband speeds to businesses.

DETI minister Arlene Foster said, “Following a competitive tender exercise, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment has entered into a contract with BT for further development of Northern Ireland’s telecommunications infrastructure, specifically the provision of Next Generation Broadband Services.

“This is hugely significant. At a time of economic slowdown when private sector companies are scaling down their investments, this multi-million pound injection in our infrastructure has the potential to indirectly create up to 1,000 additional jobs per annum.”

Foster added that telecoms is one of the jewels of the British crown and investing in faster broadband, “which builds upon our earlier investments and the provision of 100% access to first generation broadband, provides further opportunity for companies based here to improve their productivity.”