BT's Northern Ireland broadband plans welcomed

Posted 6th January 2010 at 10:43am by Ewan Taylor-Gibson

BT's new plans to launch fibre-optic broadband services across Northern Ireland have been welcomed by a minister.

Arlene Foster, the country's enterprise minister, has stated that the proposals to offer improved connection speeds to households by the end of the summer highlights "very welcome investment".

Speeds of up to 40Mb will be made available to homes served by the 167 exchanges which will offer super-fast broadband in the country by the end of the upgrades.

Ms Foster has claimed Northern Ireland "must keep pace" with the world of modern telecommunications.

She added: "When the next-generation broadband project has been completed, few, if any, parts of the British Isles will have anywhere near the amount of fibre that will be deployed in Northern Ireland by 2011."

Earlier this week, Dorset County Council confirmed it is urging businesses to back plans that would see BT fibre-optic broadband technology installed permanently in the region.

More news on: BT, Broadband speeds, Broadband coverage, Future developments

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7 comments

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Colin, 10th January 2010.

Its about time. I lived in liverpool for a short while and when i came home i was very unimpressed with the poor speeds in Northern Ireland.

I now live in bangor, approx 1 mile from the exchange, and can still only get 2mb no matter how much i pay for. Hopefully BT will be covering the bangor exchange.
Reply
Mickey, 22nd January 2010.

well Colin, i think you will be pleased to know that the whole country will get it, but Bangor will actually be one of the first. So keep your eyes out for that.
Reply
Bob, 27th January 2010.

Actually i think the article is a little misleading, as it says upgrades by the end of the summer 2010 which i find doubtful for BT.

Also northern ireland has 191 exchanges so why list 166 for upgrades? i hope im not one of those who are missed out on!!
Reply
Raymond, 23rd March 2010.

Will this enable those of us who live in rural areas to now access broadband? I live in the Ballykelly area fed from an exchange in Limavady which cannot provide coverage.

Why can additional exchanges not be factored in to support the network?
Reply
Tyler Collins, 25th May 2010.

I shall be moving to Ballykelly this week and was really disappointed that my local telephone exchange is in fact 8 miles away in Limavady.

The Limavady telephone exchange must be supplying 30,000 + homes with broadband! Is there any plan on a telephone exchange to be erected in Ballykelly?
Reply
Damian , 18th October 2010.

Fibre Broadband is availble in some areas right now. I'm getting 40MB installed next monday ;-) check out http://www.racetoinfinity.bt.com/
Reply
Paul, 3rd October 2011.

I live not 200 yards from the Maze Exchange, Currently have Sky Broadband. Have enquired about BT Infinity only to find i can't get it. The BT site claims that the Maze exchange is upgraded for this.Paul
Reply