Around 1,500 customers in Northern Ireland are still without a broadband service almost a month after Storm Éowyn battered the region.
Broadband company Fibrus says 40,000 customers were impacted at the peak of the storm on Friday, January 24th and almost 90% of those who were out of service as a result of damage to the network following the extreme weather event have since been reconnected.
January's storm brought high-speed gusts of more than 90mph which left a record number of people in Northern Ireland without electricity for days and more than 3,000 incidents of obstructions of trees and debris on roads. Stormont has allocated more than £17 million to repair damage caused by Storm Eowyn.
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Power cuts caused by the storm affected a total of 285,000 households and businesses. It also resulted in the Met Office issuing its first red weather warning for Northern Ireland.
One Fibrus customer, who is still without broadband after the storm, has described the service as "a complete disaster from beginning to end".
In a statement to Belfast Live, a Fibrus spokesperson said: “We had 40k customers impacted at the peak of the storm, around three quarters of which were related to power outages and the remainder related to damage to fibre infrastructure.
“We currently have around 1,500 homes without connectivity, largely in rural and harder to reach areas. Almost 90% of customers out of service as a result of damage to our network have already been reconnected.
“Repair efforts are ongoing in the areas still impacted. Our teams remain focused on getting every customer back online as we work to overcome additional challenges such as secondary damages and additional poling and cabling work in some areas. Some cases require repairs from third parties, and we continue to work closely with our partners in these instances.”
They added: “We understand the importance of a broadband connection to our customers and have over 300 people out in the field, including additional support from teams in GB, firmly focused on getting our customers back online as quickly as possible.
“We will continue to communicate with customers regarding their estimated completion dates. As a reminder, customers who have been out of service due to damaged fibre are entitled to compensation. Details of how to claim compensation are available on our website https://fibrus.com/compensation-claim/.
“We would like to thank customers for their continued patience and understanding as we work to reconnect everyone as quickly as we can.”
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