How Openreach is transforming the way we live and work

With demand for online services on the increase, the role of Northern Ireland’s largest digital infrastructure provider, Openreach, in keeping people connected has never been more important.
Ad Feature by Openreach Northern Ireland
Published 5th Nov 2020, 15:47 BST
Updated 6th Nov 2020, 09:37 BST
Mairead Meyer leads a team of over 750 engineers who are responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the broadband network in the regionMairead Meyer leads a team of over 750 engineers who are responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the broadband network in the region
Mairead Meyer leads a team of over 750 engineers who are responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the broadband network in the region

Director of Openreach in Northern Ireland, Mairead Meyer, leads a team of over 750 engineers who are responsible for building, maintaining, and managing the broadband network in the region.

They have now built ultrafast Full Fibre broadband to 420,000 homes and businesses in NI; reaching more than 3,500 premises every week, this means every hour another 22 homes or businesses in the region can now access ultrafast Full Fibre broadband.

Here, Mairead tells us more about her journey.

“I’ve always had a passion for science and technology and knew that I wanted a career working within the engineering field, so after graduating from Queen’s University in Belfast with a Masters in electrical and electronic engineering, I began working at BT.

“Then in 2018, I joined Openreach and now lead a team of 750 engineers who are responsible for rolling out ultrafast Full Fibre broadband in the region as well as maintaining the network which delivers service to over 840,000 homes and businesses every day.

“Over the last two years, we’ve made incredible progress and now over 50 per cent of Northern Ireland can access ultrafast Full Fibre broadband. We are confident of reaching more than 525,000 premises, which is over 60 per cent of the region, by March 2021.”

Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband is the next generation of the internet in the UK, offering broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps – with a more consistent and reliable service enabling faster download and upload speeds.

She continued: “I’m proud not only of this achievement but of the skilled and diverse team right across Northern Ireland who have worked tirelessly to make this possible.

“Our strength is our people and, as one of the biggest investors in infrastructure in Northern Ireland, our teams are central to helping us realise our ambition to deliver the best possible connectivity to everyone in the region.

“To help to keep Northern Ireland at the forefront of digital technology, we’re committed to investing in recruitment and our people. We announced this summer we are hiring over 100 apprentice engineers to support our build programme and to deliver essential infrastructure in the coming year, and we also have opportunities in other areas of the business including our graduate programme.

“Ultrafast Full Fibre broadband really is the future and we’re hopeful that with continued investment in our people and the network, there will be benefits for everyone right across NI, no matter where they live, work or study.”

To find out about roles at Openreach or whether you can get ultrafast Full Fibre broadband, visit openreach.co.uk/ni

Related topics:OpenreachNorthern IrelandMastersBelfast