Northern Ireland is aiming to get the most up-to-date communications systems - but that hasn't happened just yet.

The Stormont Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster has said she would continue to take every step possible to improve digital communication services across Northern Ireland.

The Minister’s comments follow the publication of the regulator Ofcom’s First Communications Infrastructure Report and digital communications coverage maps.

Commenting on 2G and 3G coverage, Arlene Foster said: “There are no surprises in this data. For a number of years, I have been lobbying for improved mobile coverage in Northern Ireland, pointing out that our 3G coverage in particular falls well below the UK average.

“In March 2011 my Department launched a consultation on telecommunications investment priorities for 2011-2015 and improvement in mobile services is one of the key themes. We published our final consultation response in September 2011 and have had extensive support from those who provided feedback on the consultation themes on our assessment of priorities.”

Arlene Foster expressed her disappointment that OFCOM has again published information on availability of fixed line services which fails to take into consideration the impact of the recently completed £51million fibre-to-the-cabinet investment.

The Minister added: “While the maps show high availability of Superfast Broadband across Northern Ireland, it is my understanding that the Average Speeds shown for each Council area fail to include the impact of or speeds being delivered by the fibre rollout.

"This is particularly disappointing given Northern Ireland has the highest availability of Superfast in the UK," she said.

“I am however pleased to note that Ofcom recognises this apparent disparity in the Infrastructure Report and has committed to collect data in the summer of 2012 to quantify the extent to which take-up of services on our new network is leading to higher average speeds.”

In order to improve services, the Minister said her Department is now in detailed discussions with the Department for Culture, Media and Sports and Broadband Delivery UK to source funding from the £530million BDUK initiative.

She continued: “The aim of this scheme is to develop and deliver an innovative project to improve 3G coverage in Northern Ireland. The proposals we have made to BDUK have been received well.

“In addition, my Department has already made representations to Ofcom locally, following on the recent announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of £150million to incentivise rollout of mobile networks to improve voice coverage. We have highlighted our availability to work in a collaborative manner to source funding for Northern Ireland and to deliver improvements in coverage.

“While I am obviously disappointed that 2G and 3G coverage at both geographic and premises levels is below the UK average, the publication of this data by Ofcom presents an opportunity to firm up on our project proposals.”

(BMcC)