Northern Ireland warned against two-tier approach to internet access

Northern Ireland cannot have a two-tier approach to internet access which leaves people in rural communities with insufficient access to broadband, the SDLP South Down MP Margaret Ritchie has warned.

Ms Ritchie said some remote rural areas in the North still have no access to broadband which she says is actively disadvantaging the people who choose to live there.

“Access to internet is a modern necessity- it is essential that rural communities are connected just the same as those in towns and cities and the necessary infrastructures put in place so that none are left behind.”.

A new report published today by the UK's Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee highlights that ongoing projects to bring rural communities up to speed with basic broadband access falls short of the EU202 target to provide superfast broadband - 30Mbpbs - by 2020.

Work is currently underway in the North to provide either first time or increased access and improved broadband services in various locations.

As part of the Northern Ireland Broadband Improvement Project new fibre optic telephone lines are currently being installed to run from existing exchanges to new small broadband exchanges in remote areas.

According to the Department of Enterprise this will improve the telecommunications infrastructure across the region and provide access to basic broadband in areas which have no service or access to superfast broadband.

Ms Ritchie said she wants the Northern Ireland Executive and BT to commit to providing better broadband access for rural communities but she believes it makes no sense that intense efforts are being made to offer rural communities “mediocre broadband service”, which she claims is already considered outdated, at a time when urban areas are receiving upgrades to superfast broadband.

Last week BT's chief executive Gavin Patterson unveiled the company's ambition to provide much faster broadband for homes and small businesses in the UK by using innovative technology that it plans to pilot in Britain this Summer.

The company claims its new “G.fast” technology will help BT deliver ultrafast speeds of up to 500Mbps to most of the UK within a decade.

But in the meantime Ms Ritchie says rural communities in the North must not be left behind.

“A digital divide already exists between rural and urban areas. While advancements are being made to deliver superfast broadband at 24 megabits per second (Mbps) to those in towns and cities, efforts are still underway in rural communities to catch up with basic broadband delivery at 2 Mbps,” she said.