Full Fibre NI, was a UK Government funded project that saw 240 rural GP surgeries, 148 community centres and over 90 council offices now start to develop and deliver better digital quality services. All 887 buildings now have the option to access greatly improved and ultra-reliable connectivity to increase productivity and user experience of the public services they offer.
The ten councils have formed the Full Fibre Northern Ireland Consortium (FFNI) to oversee the project and this is being led by the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council. The deployment is being supported by a public investment of £15 million, which was recently awarded under Wave 3 of the UK Government’s Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN).
The project will follow the usual Public-Sector Anchor Tenancy model, which will first focus upon connecting public sector sites to the new fibre optic lines before later opening this network up for use by Internet Service Providers to offer 1Gbps broadband services to local businesses and possibly even homes.
Fibrus Networks Ltd were appointed to deliver the project.
Project Update:
As of March 2022, 47 Council-owned sites have been successfully upgraded to full fibre capabilities. In addition, 34 Business Services Organisation sites within the Borough have also been upgraded.
These upgrades represent circa £2.5m of investment in digital infrastructure across the Borough.