Project Stratum continues apace with 74k homes connectable

More than 74,000 premises across Northern Ireland have now been addressed by Hyperfast NI’s Project Stratum build.

With 13,259km of cable laid, the company is now on target to connect 81,000 premises by June 2025.

The build is being delivered by Fibrus which connected its first customer in Coalisland in March 2021, six months after the 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, said: “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.

“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.

Project Stratum is 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.

The public subsidy combined with Fibrus’ investment brings the overall total investment in Project Stratum to £248M.