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<p>We are working closely with the Department for Economy team in Northern Ireland
on the £165m Project Stratum who are finalising Invitation to Tender documents in
relation to issuing the OJEU Procurement by the end of April. This will extend Superfast
coverage in Northern Ireland to approximately 98% of premises and include many small
rural businesses.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Recently, the Full-Fibre Northern Ireland
Consortium of 10 local councils were successful in the award of £15m under the DCMS
Wave 3 of the Local Full Fibre Networks (LFFN) programme. This is in addition to the
DCMS LFFN Wave 2 Belfast City Council £11.5m and the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
£2.4m projects. These projects will all help to provide more full-fibre to public
buildings in urban and rural areas and this should encourage commercial suppliers
more cost-effectively to reach more premises. These projects form part of the investment
of almost £300m, to stimulate commercial full fibre investment in both urban and rural
areas across the UK, by 2021. This includes the Gigabit Broadband Voucher Scheme,
which can be used by small businesses to contribute to the installation cost of faster
connections over gigabit-capable infrastructure.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The
£200m Rural Gigabit Connectivity programme, due to launch in Spring, will also benefit
rural businesses. The programme will trial a model for full fibre to public buildings
- starting with primary schools - which will act as hubs in rural areas, alongside
vouchers for funding gigabit-capable connectivity to homes and businesses across the
UK.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>These programmes address hard to reach areas and
meet the needs of the challenging connectivity issues experienced by small rural businesses.</p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>To ensure no-one is left behind, we are introducing a broadband
Universal Service Obligation to give everyone a clear, enforceable right to request
high-speed broadband by 2020.</p><p> </p>
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