Northern Ireland Executive pledges 2Mbps for rural areas by 2011

Rural communities throughout Northern Ireland could have broadband connection speeds of two megabits per second (Mbps) by 2011, throwing a spotlight on Westminster targets.

While 2Mbps services are being targeted for rural areas, urban web users could have access to speeds five times this figure at 10Mbps, with funding of nearly £50 million coming from a range of sources including major internet service provider BT.

The baseline speed promised for rural areas is the same as that promised for major towns and cities throughout the UK mainland, which could deliver a range of services including more efficient VoIP hardware.

Enterprise minister Arlene Foster said: "At a time of economic slowdown when private sector companies are scaling down their investments, this multi-million pound injection in our infrastructure has the potential to indirectly create up to 1,000 additional jobs per annum."

BT will use fibre-to-the-cabinet technology to deliver the faster services and users in urban areas could actually be able to receive speeds as high as 40Mbps.

Research from TalkTalk has revealed that having faster broadband could result in people being less patient in other areas of their lives.