Better broadband is a key priority towards growing the local economy as identified within Mid Ulster District Council’s 'Our Plan for Growth'.
The quality and reach of fixed broadband infrastructure in Mid Ulster is improving and ongoing initiatives are assisting such as:
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Project Gigabit is aimed at further improving broadband infrastructure in predominantly rural areas. The Department for the Economy NI (DfE) is leading on the delivery of Project Gigabit and has appointed Fibrus Networks Ltd. The £34.6m contract, funded by the UK government, begins immediately and will bring gigabit-capable broadband to over 9,000 rural premises across Northern Ireland. Project Gigabit is the UK government’s programme to enable hard-to-reach communities to access gigabit-capable broadband and builds on the success of Project Stratum, which brought high speed broadband access to 81,000 premises in Northern Ireland.
More details of the deployment plans are available at https://www.online.economy-ni.gov.uk/ProjectGigabit/ This includes a premises checker to enable homeowners and businesses to check if their premises will benefit from Project Gigabit.
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Full Fibre Northern Ireland sees ten councils with the exception of Belfast forming as a Consortium to seek funding for Full Fibre Broadband. Each Council is to receive £1.5million of funding which they will maximise across their district. The first focus has to be connecting between public sector sites to new fibre optic lines. In doing this businesses and residents can benefit of this connection. This is due to commence in autumn 2019 in each area
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Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme is currently available for small businesses and residents towards the installation cost of a gigabit-capable connection. Businesses can claim up to £2,500 against the cost and residents up to £500 as part of a group project.
Although Broadband is not a remit of Councils, we are one of the most actively engaged Councils lobbying the Department for the Economy for further improvements to broadband provision in Mid Ulster.
For help and advice
Please contact our business team at business@midulstercouncil.org or call 03000 132 132.