Rural new-builds must also benefit from internet roll-out – Sugden

Owners of homes that were not registered with the Land and Property Service when the planned route for Project Stratum was made have seen their requests for connection refused while their neighbours only metres away have been connected. Ms Sugden said there had to be a common sense approach to the issue, with nearby houses given the chance to connect.

“Project Stratum is a government-funded project designed to deliver fast broadband to rural and poorer-connected areas of Northern Ireland,” Ms Sugden said. “But we have a situation now where, despite many of their neighbouring homes having been connected, some people are missing out.

“I have had numerous constituents approach me with very similar issues. Because their homes weren’t registered with the Land and Property Service prior to the Project Stratum route being mapped out, they were not included. Apart from the fact that the new homes would have been obvious to anyone carrying out the work on the ground – and steps could have been taken then to include them in future – I believe there should be a retrospective option for cases like this.

“Clearly the cabling in many of these cases is very close to the houses in question. It is difficult to see how it would be overly timely or expensive to connect these houses.”

Ms Sugden has written to the Minister for the Economy, whose department is responsible for the roll-out.

“Many of these constituents have children in education or are working from home,” Ms Sugden continued. “Broadband is a vital part of modern education, employment and social life, and should not be denied to someone when it can be easily remedied.

“I have urged the minister to review these cases and do whatever possible to get these homes connected.”