To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail what efforts are being made to connect houses added retrospectively to Project Stratum at the same time as nearby houses that were included in the initial plan.

As you aware, Project Stratum was developed to improve connectivity for premises unable to access broadband services of 30Mbps or greater, primarily across rural areas of Northern Ireland. The project was allocated £165m of public funding, £150m of which was secured under the Confidence and Supply Agreement between the DUP and the Conservatives. Fibrus Networks was appointed as the contractor in November 2020 to deliver gigabit-capable broadband to 76,000 premises in rural areas across Northern Ireland.

In January 2022, my Department secured additional capital funding of £32 million to bring a further 8,500 premises into Project Stratum. Fibrus Networks is now delivering gigabit-capable broadband to 85,000 premises throughout Northern Ireland.

Wherever possible Fibrus Network aim to roll out the additionally contracted premises alongside the originally contracted premises. However, as would be expected, planning and deployment to the originally contracted 76,000 premises was well progressed when the additional 8,500 premises were added to the project and several areas had been delivered, with many more underway and on track for completion by 31 March 2024. As a result, it was necessary for Fibrus Networks to add a further four delivery quarters to the project to allow for additional planning, resources, network build and time to deliver. All 85,000 premises will have access to gigabit capable full fibre broadband by 31 March 2025. This approach has allowed Project Stratum to continue to proceed at pace, ensuring the best value for money is delivered and progress with the deployment is maintained.

If not already done so, citizens should register their interest at https://hyperfastni.com/contact, and Fibrus Networks will keep them informed of progress.