Openreach has announced that it's hit the 50% milestone in home and business coverage of gigabit broadband.
The closure of tech company offices across Northern Ireland has forced many of us to work from home, putting pressure on home broadband capacities across the region. Though most of us have superfast or fibre broadband with speeds of up to 100Mbit, Openreach has been hard at work deploying next-generation gigabit fibre with speeds of up to 1,000Mbit.
Openreach has now announced that it's reached the 50% mark in deployment of the technoilogy to homes and businesses across Northern Ireland. Current fibre broadband uses fibre optic cables that run to switching cabinets on every street and then which then link up with traditional copper phone wiring to get into people's homes. Gigabit or Full Fibre broadband runs the fibre directly to the home or business, eliminating the slow copper wire.
Fast and reliable internet infrastructure has been a huge benefit to Northern Ireland's tech sector in recent eyars, with Belfast being selected as one of the first Cities to receive 5G internet access when it began rolling out across the UK. Around 750 engineers are currently connecting over 3,500 premesis to the full fibre network each week, with the next milestone being 60% coverage or 525,000 premesis covered by March 2021.
Mairead Meyer, Director of Openreach in Northern Ireland, commented: "The Full Fibre network is about setting Northern Ireland up for success today and in the future. It will be transformational, providing a consistent and fast service to connect families, businesses and public services in the region and will be a platform for economic growth for the region."
Openreach CEO Clive Selley commented: "I’m extremely proud of the central role that Openreach has played in supporting Northern Ireland’s digital ambitions so far and it is important for me to take a moment to recognise and applaud our team of over 750 engineers who have made this happen. It is their dedication, expertise and desire to consistently deliver the best results for our customers that has ensured that the region is getting the digital infrastructure it needs to drive growth and stay ahead."
Source: Written based on rpess release
