High-speed broadband comes to Lisburn

Lisburn in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, is to become one of nearly 70 locations around the UK that is to benefit from high-speed broadband in the near future.

Major internet service provider (ISP) BT is to provide high-speed connections to around 14,000 Lisburn web users by the middle of next year, while the ISP is also looking to stimulate competition by making the network available to other regional companies on a wholesale basis.

The roll-out could allow more effective use of VoIP hardware while also allowing multiple users in the same house to download higher quality web content.

Chris Clark, chief executive officer of BT in Northern Ireland, said: "Fibre-based broadband is the future for Northern Ireland so we're accelerating the pace of our investment programme to support such services."

He added that the development could bring outstanding economic advantages to Northern Ireland, while also benefitting domestic users.

One of BT's primary competitors is Virgin Media, which has already launched a 50 megabits-per-second broadband service.