Telehouse 'set for Fort George'

The cable will link Northern Ireland directly to the US

Ilex, Londonderry's regeneration company, has announced that it intends to seek planning permission for a telehouse on the Fort George site.

It is the first official confirmation that the telehouse, part of Project Kelvin, may be built on the former army land.

The telehouse will be the point were a transatlantic cable will link to the Northern Ireland telecoms network.

The cable will connect NI directly to the US for the first time.

It is hoped Project Kelvin will improve the speed and extent to which NI firms can trade information with the rest of the world.

Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie welcomed the announcement.

"The construction of the Project Kelvin telehouse will represent the first physical development on Fort George," she said.

"I hope it will be followed by many more major developments as we continue to advance our vision of making this site an economic driver that delivers jobs and prosperity for the people of Derry and the north west."

The transatlantic cable was brought ashore at Portrush last month.

The project connects Northern Ireland with the Hibernia North Transatlantic cable, located 22 miles off the north coast.

Derek Bullock from Hibernia Atlantic said he was "delighted to be bringing the telehouse to Derry".

"Project Kelvin has great potential for investment throughout all of Northern Ireland and Ireland.

"Businessmen and entrepreneurs can now look to the future where there will be a new wealth of capacity and the ability to directly and securely connect to Canada, US, GB and mainland Europe," he said.

The fibre optic cable, which runs along the seabed, will interconnect with Northern Ireland's existing telecoms infrastructure as well as that of the Republic of Ireland.

The project had attracted controversy over the location for the telehouse.

It was originally planned for Derry but then the Department of Enterprise said it would be built in Coleraine.

That decision was reversed after a campaign by politicians and business people in Derry.

In February, the Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster confirmed the telehouse would be located in city.