Northern Ireland plans broadband boost

A trial of high-speed broadband in Northern Ireland is set to explore opportunities to increase the availability of the connections across the country, it has been announced.

New homes being built in Belfast are to receive a 20Mbps broadband line after a housing association received a government grant of £67,000 to install the infrastructure.

Data will be sent at high speed along the fibre optic lines which reach all the way into homes, following the investment from the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI).

Economy minister Nigel Dodds said: "The information and knowledge gained from this trial will help shape our future strategy for broadband services in Northern Ireland.

"Working with the Department for Social Development and Clanmil Housing on this trial, we now know that high-speed broadband can be delivered through fibre optics at a reasonable cost into new housing developments."

To begin with, the high-speed lines will be restricted to ten houses, whose lucky resident will be able to download film in minutes and enjoy crystal clear voice quality on voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services.