Fibrus secures gigabit broadband deal for 9,000 Northern Ireland homes

Fibrus has won a £34.6 million Project Gigabit contract to deliver gigabit-capable full-fibre broadband to more than 9,000 homes and businesses across rural Northern Ireland.

The rollout will focus on rural areas and small towns that have so far missed out on commercial full-fibre investment.

Work is expected to begin immediately, with the first connections planned for 2026.

9,000 rural premises to get full fibre

Fibrus has been awarded a £34.6 million Project Gigabit contract to extend gigabit-capable full-fibre broadband to more than 9,000 homes and businesses across rural Northern Ireland.

The publicly funded build targets premises in rural areas and small towns that are not expected to receive full fibre through commercial rollout plans.

Funding is being provided through the UK government's Project Gigabit programme, delivered locally by the Department for the Economy with support from Building Digital UK (BDUK).

The contract covers network design, construction and delivery of full-fibre connections capable of supporting gigabit speeds.

Build work is expected to begin immediately, with the first premises due to be connected during 2026.

Northern Ireland's final gaps

Northern Ireland already has one of the highest levels of full-fibre coverage in the UK, with around 95% of premises able to access full fibre following years of commercial and publicly funded build.

Much of that progress came through Project Stratum, the £165 million intervention that extended full fibre to roughly 80,000 mainly rural premises and reshaped the region's broadband baseline.

What remains are smaller, more dispersed clusters of homes and businesses that are harder and more expensive to reach, and unlikely to be served through market-led rollout alone.

Fibrus was the main delivery partner on Project Stratum, building and operating a large full-fibre network that now underpins coverage across wide parts of Northern Ireland.

That existing footprint, and experience delivering publicly funded rural infrastructure, helps explain why the operator has been selected to tackle these remaining gaps under Project Gigabit.

Fibrus also provides consumer broadband services over its live network, making full-fibre connections available to homes and businesses once new areas are built.

Project Gigabit and the full fibre rollout

Project Gigabit is the UK government's flagship programme for extending gigabit-capable broadband to areas that fall outside commercial rollout plans.

As full-fibre coverage increases, each remaining phase of build tends to reach fewer premises at a higher per-property cost, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach locations.

Contracts like this one in Northern Ireland are designed to address those final pockets of under-served premises, using public funding to complete networks that are already largely in place.

Similar Project Gigabit awards have been made across the UK, with delivery split between large operators such as Openreach and regional altnets including Gigaclear and Quickline, depending on local infrastructure and build experience.

Even with this latest contract, a small number of the most remote premises are likely to remain outside full-fibre coverage, relying instead on alternative solutions such as fixed wireless or satellite services.