Over 200,000 NI homes and businesses now enjoying the benefits of fibre broadband.

Over 17,500 premises now receiving improved broadband services under the Northern Ireland Broadband Improvement Project

BT today announced that over 200,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland are now connected to BT’s leading-edge fibre network and enjoying the benefits of high speed internet access.

Businessman Robbie Eakins from Portadown, who owns Mahon Garden Centre, was the 200,000th customer to get connected to the service, which now enables him to receive download speeds of up to 80 Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps.

Commenting on the benefits that fibre broadband has brought to his business, Mr Eakins said, “Our previous broadband service had slowed down significantly and as a business it was important to us that we had access to a service that would allow us to stay connected to our customers, deal with enquiries and communicate with our suppliers as quickly as possible. With superfast we’ve gone up a gear and the overall service that we offer is now much more efficient.

He added, “The time that we save with a faster internet connection means that we can dedicate more time to our business, such as responding to customer enquiries online, processing orders and keeping our social media pages current and interactive. We also no longer have to worry about any videos buffering on our website. It allows for a much more professional service for our customers.”

BT also announced that it has completed phase three of the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Investment’s Broadband Improvement Project, with over 17,500 homes and businesses now receiving better broadband services in rural communities across Northern Ireland.
Alex Crossan, managing director of commercial networks at BT Ireland said: “We’re delighted to have reached our latest milestone in the Northern Ireland Broadband Improvement Project, enabling even more homes and businesses to avail of improved broadband speeds. In some cases, we’ve been able to take customers from speeds of less than 2Mbps up to 330Mbps which makes a phenomenal difference to the end user.”

“As Mr Eakin’s comments prove, there are huge benefits to be gained by adopting the technology so I would encourage everyone to check if they can avail of the service, which can easily be done by logging on to www.nibroadband.com” he added.

With high speed fibre broadband, photos and videos can be uploaded to the internet in seconds, IP telephony and HD quality video calls can be used to stay in contact with colleagues, customers, family and friends; while it is possible to download an entire music album in about five seconds and a feature length movie in less than two minutes.
Anyone interested in getting fibre broadband can choose from a wide range of broadband packages from twenty- seven communication service providers who use BT’s open access fibre network. For more information on how to get connected visit www.nibroadband.com