‘Superfast broadband must reach maximum number of premises’

Mr Mc Aleer said: “The announcement before Christmas that the contract for Project Stratum has been awarded was warmly greeted, particularly by families in isolated rural areas with little or no broadband.

“Since then, I have been inundated with queries from people about eligibility and if their home is in the intervention area and I have been in contact with the minister and Fibrus on these matters.

“Land & Property Services (LPS) in conjunction with Royal Mail and local councils’ maintains a dataset of properties called ‘Pointer’ and Project Stratum relies on ‘Pointer’ as the most up-to-date dataset of premises.

“However, when the Department for the Economy undertook the Project Stratum Open Market Review (OMR) in June/July 2018 certain premises, such as new builds did not appear as built premises with an approved postal address on the ‘Pointer’ system.

“I am personally aware of recently built homes not in the Project Stratum intervention area, despite neighbours on both sides on the same road being included. However, if such premises are re categorised as ‘built’ and approved by LPS it may be possible to have them included.”

Mr McAleer concluded: “Given the necessity of broadband connectivity to everyday life, it is crucial that no one who is eligible for superfast broadband is left out of this £350 million scheme.

“I have written to the LPS, Department for the Economy and Fibrus Ltd asking them to continuously collaborate to ensure that the intervention area reflects the most up-to-date details of premises, especially those built since the OMR was carried out in June/July 2018.

“I also strongly advise people to check if their premises are in the intervention area by using the address checker https://availability.hyperfast.com and register their interest in superfast broadband at http://www.hyperfastni.com/ to ensure they are kept informed. They can also send queries by email to [email protected]”.