Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is the host organisation for the Full Fibre Northern Ireland (FFNI) Consortium.FFNI is a consortium of the ten councils in Northern Ireland outside Belfast.FFNI was awarded a grant of GBP 15 m from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Wave three Local Full Fibre Network Programme. This is supplemented by other sources of funding, including DCMS Rural Gigabit Connectivity grant funding and consortium member and customer funding.FFNI’s gigabit capable fibre project recognises that the provision of high quality, reliable high-speed connectivity is a necessity for a 21st century economy and society. FFNI is therefore seeking to future proof its own network connectivity requirements for the next 20 years or more through the installation of gigabit-capable digital infrastructure services.