Broadband fix could take another fortnight

Some customers in Northern Ireland could have to wait up to another fortnight to have their internet and phone connectivity restored after Storm Éowyn, a Stormont politician has said.

DUP assembly member Deborah Erskine said five telecoms masts had been destroyed during last month's storm.

While electricity has been restored to almost all those affected, Erskine said the loss of connectivity remained a serious problem.

BBC News NI has seen a message from broadband provider Fibrus telling a customer that service in their area will be restored by 17 February - two weeks away.

As of Monday afternoon, Fibrus had about 6,000 customers out of service due to confirmed fibre faults.

It said assessing timelines was challenging "given the dependencies on other providers" but all remaining customers were being given a timeframe.

In the assembly on Monday, Erskine - who is the assembly member (MLA) for Fermanagh and South Tyrone - raised concerns about elderly and vulnerable customers who remained without a estimated time for restoration.

"People in my own constituency are forced to travel to access networks at their own expense," she said.

"This is not the time for telecoms companies to hide."

She urged new Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald to put pressure on the networks to act more quickly.

SDLP MLA for Mid Ulster Patsy McGlone said he had referred a number of customers to Fibrus, including one business that had been told it will be another week before their supply could be repaired.

Archibald said she understood the concerns, but added that telecoms is the responsibility of the UK Government, specifically the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

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She added that companies were "working closely" with Northern Ireland Electricity and that services were being restored where it was safe to do so.

"A post-incident review of Storm Éowyn led by the London government will take place on 10 February, and will assess the impacts, lessons learned and future impacts following the storm," said Archibald.

Fibrus has said that more than 50% of all customers out of service as a result of fibre damage have been reconnected.

The provider said it had suffered "unprecedented levels" of damage from the storm.

The network extends to about 400,000 homes across Northern Ireland and Cumbria.

About 40,000 customers were 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".

The provider said 300 people were out in the field to get customers back online as quickly as possible.

"This task is heavily reliant on other infrastructure providers, in particular NIE and Openreach. We have been working closely with NIE as the complete picture of damage to our fibre network only becomes clear as power is fully restored."

BBC News NI has also approached the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology for comment.

SDLP councillor Denise Johnston lives in Mid Ulster and has been without internet since the storm.

She told the Evening Extra programme the situation was "very frustrating" for those in the local community who had been left without broadband.

"We often think that young people are the only people that are really dependent on the wifi, but we have all our businesses."

She added that many older people rely on WhatsApp and Facebook to contact their family.

Fibrus has said that it will be offering compensation on a case-by-case basis to affected customers who have faced service interruptions lasting more than 48 hours.

Meanwhile Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) expects to have restored power to the remaining households and businesses left without power by Storm Éowyn on Monday.

Alex Houston told BBC News that fewer than 100 customers are still without electricity, mostly in County Fermanagh.

Teams are currently in the area completing repairs and all homes are expected to have power by Monday night.

However Mr Houston warned there may be further short outages throughout the week as NIE work to "make the network safe again".

In total 285,000 households and businesses lost power during the storm which brought sustained high winds of 95mph.

At the peak of the disruption, more than 200,000 customers were affected by power cuts.

NIE has brought in 350 additional engineers from across the UK and Europe to assist local teams in repairing damage.

On Tuesday, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons pledged £1m to support communities and individuals affected by Storm Éowyn.

Then Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald has said conversations on compensation for people who lost electricity for days in the wake of Storm Éowyn are continuing.

Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers both called on NIE to issue goodwill payments to those who went several days without electricity.

Archibald said those conversations between Stormont, NIE and the Utility Regulator are ongoing.

In the Republic of Ireland about 30,000 homes, farms, schools and businesses were still without power on Monday evening, according to ESB Networks.

Power was restored to another 2,000 properties throughout Monday.

Fewer than 400 premises are now without water.

Crews from Austria, Finland, France, the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Norway, have come over to help restore power.