Comparing the challenge of repairing broadband connections after Storm Eowyn with efforts to restore electricity supply is “unfair”, a boss of a leading provider has told MLAs.
Fibrus founder and chief executive Dominic Kearns told Assembly members that he was “incredibly proud” of the company’s response during what he described as “the largest telecoms repair mission” ever seen in Northern Ireland.
A joint sitting of the Assembly’s economy and agriculture committees heard that Fibrus replaced 870 kilometres of damaged fibre cabling at a cost of £5 million following the devastating January storm.
MLAs were told that as of Wednesday, 62 Fibrus customers remained without a connection, albeit that several of those cases involved unoccupied holiday homes where the owners were not in a position to offer engineers access until later in the year, the committees heard.
At the peak of the storm, 40,000 Fibrus customers lost broadband connection. The majority of those were caused by general power outages, but 13,000 customers experienced damage to their fibre broadband links.
Fibrus undertook the £200 million Government-funded Project Stratum initiative to roll out broadband to rural communities in Northern Ireland.
Mr Kearns explained to the MLAs that many of the connections to rural properties involved overhead cables, as the cost of running those cables underground was 10 times more expensive.
Mr Kearns said it was not fair to compare the speedier time it took to restore power supply after Storm Eowyn with the timeframe for replacing fibre cabling.
“In January, the island of Ireland faced an unprecedented storm, the worst storm of a generation,” he said.
“Our response to this was the largest telecoms repair mission ever seen here.”
He added: “Much has been made of the telecommunications response compared to that of the electricity network. This is unfair and does not reflect the realities that exist. On the island there is one electricity network, north and south, owned by the same entity, whereas there were at least four rural telecoms networks that sustained major damage and who were all vying for the same resource.
“Added to this, fibre networks are more complex in their nature and take longer to repair.”
Fibrus triggered a compensation scheme following the storm, with domestic customers without connection (but who did have power supply) eligible for £5 a day and business customers eligible for £10 a day.
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