The fund will offer financial support to businesses piloting new technologies which offer opportunities for the future commercial roll-out of high speed broadband services particularly into rural areas of the Province.

Launching the fund, the Minister said: “The Broadband Fund represents an opportunity to further develop Northern Ireland’s already world-class telecommunications infrastructure, to support the growth of local businesses and efforts to attract foreign direct investment to the region.

“The delivery of next generation broadband services is high on the agenda of the Northern Ireland Assembly. The fund provides an excellent opportunity to pilot emerging technologies that will inevitably be part of the range of broadband solutions.’’

The Minister said one of the biggest challenges was to identify affordable, commercially sustainable solutions for the delivery of services into rural areas. That challenge is not unique to Northern Ireland and successes under the fund carry the potential for global application.

“I would encourage businesses of all sizes to seek assistance from the Broadband Fund and help contribute to the development of Northern Ireland’s economic and technological future,” she added.

Four years ago, a previous broadband fund assisted Belfast-based business development company Groupe-Intellex.

Company director Eoin Lambkin said it had helped him bring world-leading mobile technology from the US to Belfast.

“The project led directly to new investment in a spectrum licence to support new types of mobile broadband services - uniquely covering both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and overcoming the issues of international roaming in the border areas,” he added.

“The technology is being deployed for use in a range of new groundbreaking applications.”

These include Connected Health - linking patients at home with new healthcare monitoring systems and improving the value of NHS services, as well as mobile data communications for vehicles, like improving passenger safety on public transport.

The new support deal will require applicants to submit detailed project proposals in competition to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.