NI 'heading for 100% broadband record'

Northern Ireland is poised to become the first European region with 100% broadband Internet access for its citizens, the British government announced today.

British Telecom has been awarded the contract to deliver high-speed Internet services to every home and business in the North by the end of 2005.

During a visit to Datum Tool Design Ltd in Ballynahinch, Northern Ireland Office Economy Minister Ian Pearson said as a result of the plan local businesses would have the “level playing field they need to compete in a global economy.

“This vitally important contract will deliver the government’s broadband vision of a fully connected Northern Ireland.

“Datum Tool Design is a classic example of just how beneficial to business broadband can be.

“Here we have a small engineering firm located in a small town in Northern Ireland. Yet through broadband it is competing on the world’s stage in the aerospace and automotive industry.”

British Telecom was one of 27 companies which bid for the broadband contract.

Bill Murphy, the chief executive of BT Northern Ireland, said they had been tasked with realising a “challenging and groundbreaking vision” for the province.

He said: “This will ensure that Northern Ireland is a seriously attractive area for existing company expansion and new inward investment.”

The president of the Ulster Farmers’ Union, John Gilliland, said the announcement would be welcomed by rural families and businesses.

“Many rural communities have already been campaigning to bring broadband to their locality,” he said.

“This demonstrates the demand for the service and having it available to every household in Northern Ireland will ensure that a rural-urban divide does not open up.”