BT’s internet service snubs province’s smaller towns

BT Northern Ireland have been accused of holding back on plans to introduce effective high-speed internet connections to rural areas of the province.

The claims came to light as people seeking to register for high-speed ADSL internet connections found that some of the province’s smaller towns were not included in a on-line register of towns scheduled to receive the service.

Pat Gallagher, a member of the Irish Internet Association, said he was shocked to learn that his hometown of Sion Mills was not among those listed as able to receive the new ADSL broadband service.

Mr Gallagher said: “I discovered that if your local exchange was not among those listed as being enabled or to be enabled in the near future then your registration was removed from the database of people who are interested.

Questioning the policy Mr Gallagher asked: “How can they gauge the response for particular areas? How can they assess the level of interest if registrations are removed from their records?”

Mr Gallagher said that businesses and individuals outside Belfast who were seeking high-speed connections were clearly at a disadvantage as they were always “playing catch up.”

Currently only available in the greater Belfast area, ADSL enables high-speed internet connections that are now deemed essential for many business services seeking email, internet provision, and modern telecommunications services.

Mt Gallagher said that smaller companies and start-up enterprises in the outlying areas of the province were faced with taking on high-cost high-capacity options such as a leased line while what they actually required was a less expensive lower capacity option such as ADSL.

BT recently announced plans for another system involving satellite systems to bring ADSL systems to the highlands and islands of Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland.

BT claim that the system will bring high-speed telecommunication connections within the reach of an additional 13 million customers in the UK.

While details of the new satellite services have yet to be confirmed by BT it is expected that the system will cost around £100 per month. (SP)