More than 74,000 homes and businesses across Northern Ireland now have access to full fibre broadband following a speedy roll out of Project Stratum by broadband provider, Fibrus.
The company is on target to connect 81,000 premises by June 2025, on time and within budget for the project.
The local company was awarded the government contract in November 2020 to improve connectivity for premises unable to access broadband services of 30 Megabits per second (Mbps), in the most rural areas of Northern Ireland.
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Industry disruptor, Fibrus, connected its first customer in Coalisland in March 2021, just six months after contract award and recently completed the Randalstown area earlier this year.
Counties Down and Tyrone currently have the highest number of connected premises, almost 28,000 and 24,000 respectively, with a focus on the last remaining area to connect, Templepatrick.
Dominic Kearns, co-founder and CEO of Fibrus, commented: “This project has been a huge success for both ourselves and the Department in terms of the impact this is having on the rural homes and businesses that we are serving with new full fibre infrastructure.
“Rural communities are at the heart of our business and we’ve made a significant contribution to all areas we’ve brought our full fibre infrastructure to, through job creation, community donations, sponsorships and volunteer time.
“We were awarded this contract just two years after launching Fibrus. At the time we were best placed and most driven to deliver this project as quickly as possible for all those people in need of a reliable broadband service, regardless of where they live.
“Now, three and a half years into the project, we’re extremely proud of the speed and quality of our delivery of Project Stratum.
"With a year to go we’re well on track to complete our target of connecting more than 81,000 premises and levelling up access to full fibre broadband the length and breadth of Northern Ireland.”
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Over the last number of years, part of the Fibrus success story has been creating a challenger brand to disrupt the local broadband market, one that consumers and businesses can trust to provide reliable and fast internet connectivity.
To date, the company has attracted over 80,000 customers which continues to grow month on month.
Shane Haslem, Chief Operating Officer at Fibrus added: “When a customer receives our service and compares it to the last service they had from a provider using the old copper network, they can see the difference instantly.
"Because of this our brand is growing and people love the reliability and speed that a full fibre service gives them.”
Managed by the Department for the Economy, with £175m of British Government funding under the superfast programme, along with additional funding from DfE and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Project Stratum is the largest publicly funded telecommunications infrastructure project of its kind in Northern Ireland, put in place to level up Northern Ireland’s broadband access and connect underserved areas.
Conor Murphy, Minister for the Economy, said: “Project Stratum has transformed the connectivity prospects for premises without access to next generation infrastructure. Along with ongoing commercial investment, this intervention has reduced the digital divide between rural and urban areas and has helped improve regional balance in much-needed broadband availability.”
“I welcome the completion of the services delivered by Fibrus to eligible premises in the Randalstown area, and I look forward to seeing the completion of the remaining areas over the rest of the Project Stratum contract.”
The public subsidy combined with Fibrus’ investment brings the overall total investment in Project Stratum to £248M.
