UK Business Information / Telecommunications

The UK is an important market for telecommunications. Over the past two decades the UK has been quick to embrace deregulation in the telecommunications sector and encourage innovation, creating a keen business environment for telecommunications companies.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Northern Ireland is carving out a niche as the testing ground for telecommunication innovation in the UK. It is the first region of the UK to have 100% broadband coverage, and operating costs are 30% lower than the US and up to 20% lower than other European countries, making it the ideal region for companies to experiment.

The Institute of Electronics and Communications Technologies (ECIT) is recognised as a global centre of excellence for telecommunications research. ECIT is a joint initiative between Queens University, Belfast, and the schools of Telecommunication Engineering and Computing and Information Engineering at the University of Ulster.

Several global telecommunications companies have offices or R&D units in Northern Ireland. Nortel Networks' European Supply Chain Centre of Excellence in optical systems is located in Northern Ireland, and the country has been chosen as the first in Europe to benefit from BT's 21st Century telecommunications project.

Innovations to have come out of Northern Ireland include Openwave's Mobile Access Gateway, developed by its R&D team in Belfast.