Posted: 19th Jan, 2008 By: MarkJ
Thinkbroadband reports that The Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI), Clanmil Housing,
Virgin Media and Bytel Networks have teamed up to trial a new fibre (FTTH/FTTC) broadband service in Belfast (Northern Ireland).
The service will cover roughly 180 Housing Association tenants and offer speeds of 'up to' 20Mbps, which is slower than some might expect. Economy Minister Nigel Dodds had the following to say:
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.
The trial specifically looked at the cost, technical and practical issues involved in installing infrastructure capable of delivering high speed, ie. next generation broadband. Two separate infrastructure designs were deployed fibre to the cabinet and fibre to the home allowing direct comparison between the two.
The full press release and further details can be read
here.