As a rural dweller, Raymond Ferguson knows “first-hand what it’s like to be the last in the queue for services such as broadband.”

Formerly employed by Maxwell Pierce architects, where he drew plans, the Cashel man had a chance encounter with a client which began his journey into self-employment 10 years ago.

Whilst helping the Managing Director of Net1 Broadband, Andrew McKeever, secure planning permission for a mast in Fermanagh, Raymond made the pitch that resulted in him becoming Net1’s Project Manager in Fermanagh and Tyrone.

“I thought he was missing an opportunity by not pushing wireless broadband in Fermanagh so I said I would push it if he gave me a job. He took me on on a self-employed basis, initially for two days a week and it’s been seven days a week since,” explained Raymond.

With over 1,000 local customers, many of whom Raymond can rhyme off the top of his head, he has worked tirelessly to expand the company’s presence in the county.

Net 1 is one of a number of wireless internet service providers which provide a fixed service for people who cannot avail of broadband through a phone line. It works with a small radio antenna mounted on a building. This radio antenna will connect to the nearest base station, which transmits and receives the data using a radio signal. In order to connect a property, it must have line of sight to the base station. An antenna placed on that property can also service other neighbouring properties. 

Wireless providers exist in many rural communities across the UK, often in more remote areas where phone lines and cables struggle to reach or where fibre optic cables haven’t been laid yet. While most broadband is delivered through copper or fibre optic cables, wireless is different. It reaches your home via radio waves, just like 4G or mobile phone signal or a very, very big Wi-Fi hotspot.

After nine months of red tape and unanswered emails – an experience that Raymond says put Net 1 at a disadvantage to its competitors – Net1 successfully became one of the 21 suppliers of The Northern Ireland Better Broadband Scheme. Securing a place on the list of suppliers, which he says only happened after they got in touch with an MLA, has resulted in 300 new Net 1 customers and the creation of one full-time and two part-time jobs in the last five months.

The Better Broadband Scheme is jointly managed by the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy (DfE) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It was developed by the UK government to provide access to a subsidised broadband installation to homes and businesses that are unable to access a broadband service with a download speed of at least 2Mb per second and who will not benefit from the superfast broadband roll out.

To date, the DfE has received 900 applications from homes and businesses in the Fermanagh and Omagh Council area, of which 845 have been successful. 

To check if they are eligible, home or business owners must fill in an application form which is accessible of the department’s website. 

A departmental spokesman said: “The Northern Ireland Better Broadband Scheme will ensure that no household or business will need to pay more than £400 to access a basic broadband service over a 12 month period.
“Households and businesses that are eligible to take advantage of the scheme will be provided with a unique code that will cover most of the cost of the installation and commissioning of a basic broadband service including any necessary equipment. 

“They will be required to enter into a contract for a minimum of 12 months with one of the suppliers registered under the scheme and pay any remaining cost of installation (if any), the monthly charge for the service they select, and any VAT payable.”

The spokesman said: “The code does not have a specific fixed value but when used to obtain a basic broadband service from a registered supplier it will reduce the total cost by up to £350.”

Being one of the suppliers means “our installation rate is £100 and it is £24.99 per month for up to 40MG speed. Without the grant aid it would be £142 for installation and £37 per month,” Raymond outlined.
Families with multiple devices in the home such as PlayStations and streaming TVs are Net 1’s main customer base. 
In addition, Raymond notes that “rural businesses are choking for broadband.”
He said: “Yesterday I had a large freight company ring me. They have businesses in a rural area and they are having difficulties with broadband. You would have people who work in Belfast during the week, but they would have the opportunity to work from home if they had good broadband. You have people with remote servers, there’s little construction companies throughout Fermanagh who are our customers.”
He would welcome more government schemes, particularly with Brexit looming and the uncertainty it brings to the Net 1 business which is headquartered in Dundalk.
“We have to sustain that cost for as long as we can but with ever changing trends such as the euro and Brexit it is uncertain,” Raymond commented, adding: “When Net 1 first came to Fermanagh it was £26 per month and that was a direct conversion from €35 a month. We are still charging customer £26 per month for the old service, but £26 is not €35 now, it’s €29.”
The company also faces increased costs in investing in their ‘back hall’. This is the infrastructure which provides the broadband to all suppliers across the island of Ireland.
Hibernia Networks (now owned by GTT), based in Dublin, owns the terrestrial and sub-sea fibre assets including Hibernia Express, the transatlantic submarine cable system which links Halifax, Nova Scotia to Slough, UK and Cork, Ireland.
Meanwhile, companies like Net 1 invest in “kit” that they attach to bases around Ireland. Raymond has built 35 bases in Fermanagh.
“Our radio broadband works off bases strategically placed around the county. These include masts and mini bases on farmer’s sheds, or a little antenna on the roof of someone’s house and they supply four of five neighbours,” he said.
Raymond explained: “Price increases are down to the euro – everything is bought and sold in euro. If it is the case that sterling takes a big hit when Brexit happens, the price will definitely have to go up.”
He is currently in talks with the Water Service about placing Net 1 kit on a mast on Pigeon Top Mountain outside Omagh. 
“That would allow us to service the whole Lack, the back of Irvinestown, and the Omagh end. If we got up there, we could take a feed from the Hibernia loop, which runs through Omagh and could have a cheaper back hall, which would protect us from the euro costs,” he said.
He has learned that being self employed “eats up a lot of your time.”
“The secret to success is working hard at it. You need to be passionate about what you do,” he claimed, adding: “I am passionate about this because I come from Cashel which is a very rural area. I know first-hand what it’s like to be the last in the queue for services such as broadband.”
His current clients are situated all over Fermanagh, for example, Belcoo, Florenccourt, Swanlinbar, Kinawley, Rosslea, Belleek, Boa Island, Monea, Derrygonnelly and Lack.
Raymond concludes: “There is a bit of a buzz in sorting people out and fixing their problems. There is good job satisfaction.”