A recent survey from bOnline has shown that many SMEs are unsure about the availability of altnet in their area, with confusion over the UK’s broadband roll-out strategy.
Northern Irish Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has issued an update on Fibrus-fronted Project Stratum, which was recently extended to cover an additional 8,500 premises.
So far, the state-backed project has delivered full fibre infrastructure to 22,000 premises and is on track to reach a further 50,000 by the end of 2022.
By the end of 2021 more than 10,000 fibre poles had been planted and 2,000 kilometres of fibre cable installed.
Lyon’s said in the Northern Irish Assembly: “As a result of our continued public investment in broadband infrastructure the connectivity gap in Northern Ireland is rapidly closing at superfast levels.
“The network being deployed by Fibrus is an open access network, meaning it will attract competition from a number of retail service providers which, over time, will provide consumers with a broad range of competitively priced broadband services.”