Project Stratum extends coverage plans to additional 8,500 premises

Date published: 17 January 2022

Minister for the Economy Gordon Lyons has announced plans to extend Project Stratum, the broadband intervention scheme, which will result in an additional 8.500 premises being brought into scope of the project.

Economy Minister Gordon Lyons is pictured with Michael Carson, homeowner from Islandmagee who will benefit from the extension and Conor Harrison from Fibrus Networks Ltd.

Commenting on the announcement, the Minister said:  “This marks the culmination of an extensive process that confirms additional funding allocations for this transformational project by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport, along with vital contributions from my Department and the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs. Total additional public funding of £32million will be utilised to extend gigabit capable broadband coverage to reach an additional 8,500 homes and businesses in predominantly rural areas of Northern Ireland. The additional premises include 2,500 harder-to-reach properties that were out of scope of the original contract, plus a further 6,000 premises.”

The £165million contract for delivery of Project Stratum was awarded to Fibrus Networks Ltd in November 2020. By the end of 2021, Fibrus had delivered new infrastructure to more than 22,000 premises.

The Minister added: “Drawing on the same best practices acknowledged in the recent NIAO Report on Project Stratum procurement and contract management, the Department has recognised a need to bring into the scope of the contract the additional 8.5k eligible premises that are now set to benefit from this much-needed public intervention. Funded under the DUP/Conservative Confidence and Supply deal, Project Stratum represents the largest ever public investment in telecommunications infrastructure in Northern Ireland, and the project aims to close a broadband connectivity gap that exists here compared with other parts of the UK. This is despite many parts of Northern Ireland, mostly in and around our urban centres, having access to the highest levels of gigabit-capable broadband in the UK. But in rural areas it is a different story, where a third of premises cannot access superfast speeds of 30 Mbps or above, and so delivery of gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure to these premises will be revolutionary in terms of the new opportunities a truly connected Northern Ireland will bring to our citizens.”

The Minister of Agriculture, Environment, and Rural Affairs, Edwin Poots, said of today’s announcement to extend coverage of the project: “This additional investment by my Department and others in Project Stratum to extend rural broadband is a clear indication that we remain committed to ensuring that our rural communities benefit from public intervention where it is needed most. We have all seen during the pandemic how important good broadband is and are becoming ever-more reliant on our broadband services. The lack of access to high-speed connectivity is especially felt across our rural communities. I am delighted that additional public funding has been secured to deliver gigabit-capable broadband infrastructure to more homes in predominantly rural areas with this significant contribution from DAERA. This will help transform rural broadband and create the opportunities for many people to have broadband speeds as fast as it is in cities.”

UK Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez added: “The government is delivering on our plan to level up Northern Ireland with better broadband. Thanks to our £150million investment in Project Stratum and measures to bust barriers to commercial roll-out, four in five premises have access to the fastest available gigabit connections which will improve lives, boost the economy and sustain the digital and tech economy for decades to come.

"We know there are still people in hard-to-reach areas on slower speeds, so we're adding a further £22million to Project Stratum, bringing thousands more rural premises in line for a lightning-fast upgrade."

The roll-out of the new full fibre network to reach all 85,000 premises, including the additional 8.500 premises being brought into scope, will continue across four extended quarters of network build, with Fibrus Networks expected to complete full deployment by March 2025. Further information related to the timing of deployment across all build phases can be accessed via the Fibrus Networks webpage

Fibrus Networks Ltd Chief Operations Officer Conor Harrison said: “We are very proud to be involved in Project Stratum, as it is transforming people’s lives every day. The additional funding allows more of the most remote properties to get access to a service that every household needs to stay connected in a modern society.

“What we are delivering is the most important infrastructure project of a generation, and at Fibrus we thrive on the impact it is having on rural people, families, and local businesses.  By the end of 2025 our hope is that every property has access to proper fibre infrastructure, and we intend to play our part in making this a reality.”

Notes to editors: 

  1. Picture caption: Economy Minister Gordon Lyons is pictured with Michael Carson, homeowner from Islandmagee who will benefit from the extension and Conor Harrison from Fibrus Networks Ltd.
  2. Additional funding for the project was announced by the then UK Digital Secretary, Oliver Dowden, following a commitment by Building Digital UK (BDUK), a division within DCMS, to allocate funding to the project from the UK Government’s Project Gigabit fund. £22million of the capital funding necessary to extend broadband coverage to reach the additional premises has been allocated by DCMS with both DfE and DAERA each providing additional capital funding of £4.85million.This brings total additional funding for Project Stratum to c. £32million, with the contractor, Fibrus Networks, also contributing to increased network build costs. The total number of premises to benefit from this much-needed intervention will be c. 85,000, all of which will have access to gigabit-cable broadband as deployment of new infrastructure continues.
  3. Project Stratum represents a £165million broadband improvement project managed by the Department for the Economy (DfE), with public funding of £150million originally allocated as a result of the Confidence & Supply Agreement between the DUP and the Conservative Government, and a £15million contribution by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).
  4. For more information on the work of Hyperfast NI or to check availability across the intervention area, citizens are encouraged to visit the Hyperfast webpage maintained by Fibrus Networks Ltd
  5. The Department may take photographs and videos at announcements and events to publicise its work. Photographs, interviews, videos or other recordings may be issued to media organisations for publicity purposes or used in promotional material, including in publications, newspapers, magazines, other print media, on television, radio and electronic media (including social media and the internet). Photographs and videos will also be stored on the Department’s internal records management system. The Department will keep the photographs and recordings for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they have been obtained. The Department’s Privacy Policy is available on our website.
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