In Short:
Fibrus has connected over 74,000 premises in Northern Ireland with full-fibre broadband through Project Stratum, on track to reach 81,000 by June 2025. The company is focused on rural areas, with Counties Down and Tyrone having the highest connections. Fibrus has partnered with Acome Group to speed up installations, using a new 60-fibre cable to reach 354,000 premises by March 2024. Total investment in Project Stratum is GBP 248 million, the largest in Northern Ireland.
Belfast-based Fibrus has successfully connected over 74,000 premises across Northern Ireland with full-fibre broadband through Project Stratum. The company is well on its way to reaching 81,000 premises by June 2025, meeting the project deadlines and budget requirements. The government contract awarded to the local broadband provider in November 2020 aimed to enhance connectivity for premises lacking access to 30 Mbps broadband services, particularly in rural areas of Northern Ireland.
Project Stratum Progress
Fibrus announced that it initiated its first customer connection in Coalisland in March 2021, just six months after receiving the contract. Recently, the company completed the Randalstown area earlier this year. Counties Down and Tyrone currently lead in the number of connected premises, with approximately 28,000 and 24,000 respectively, while efforts are focused on the remaining area, Templepatrick.
Fibrus emphasized, “Rural communities are central to our business, and we have significantly contributed to all the areas where our full-fibre infrastructure is present, through various initiatives like job creation, community donations, sponsorships, and volunteer work. We secured this contract only two years after launching Fibrus.”
“Now, three and a half years into the project, we are extremely proud of our efficient and high-quality delivery of Project Stratum. With one year left, we are well-positioned to achieve our goal of connecting over 81,000 premises and enhancing access to full-fibre broadband across Northern Ireland,” Fibrus added.
The joint public subsidy and Fibrus‘ investment total GBP 248 million, making Project Stratum the largest publicly funded telecommunications infrastructure project in Northern Ireland.
Collaborative Solutions with Acome Group
Recently, network services provider Acome revealed that it has assisted Fibrus in accelerating its fibre installations to reach thousands of rural homes and businesses in Northern England and Northern Ireland.
By utilizing Acome Group’s cabling solutions for faster installations, Fibrus has extended its reach to 354,000 premises across rural and regional areas of Cumbria and Northern Ireland by March 2024. These connected properties can access broadband speeds of up to 2 Gbps, according to Acome.
In order to expedite its fibre rollout, Fibrus sought a cable with more fibres compared to the standard 48-fibre cables available in the market. Acome Group collaborated with Fibrus to develop a 60-fibre cable, featuring a 12-fibre modularity, a design that aligns with the existing fibre infrastructure in the UK.
It was reported that to further enhance the deployment speed, Fibrus street cabinets were equipped with an optical distribution solution that was pre-configured at Acome‘s manufacturing facility in Brittany.
