Broadband in Ireland

Summary of broadband development in Ireland

The National Broadband Plan (NBP) for Ireland intends to provide access to high speed broadband with a choice of service providers to every home and business by 2026. The government signed the contract for the implementation of the national broadband plan in November 2019. The contractor National Broadband Ireland will build a predominantly fibre-based network to cover 540.000 premises in Ireland.

National broadband strategy and policy

Responsible authorities

• The Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications is in charge of the policy formulation at both national and EU-level in relation to telecommunications issues, which also includes the National Broadband Plan.
• The Commission for Communications Regulation provides regulations for the telecommunications market.

Main aims for broadband coverage

The National Broadband Plan for Ireland, updated in 2023, sets targets for 2026. Its core objectives are to contribute to sustained macro-economic growth and competitiveness.

In November 2019, the government signed the contract for the implementation of the national broadband plan. The contractor National Broadband Ireland will build a predominantly fibre-based network to cover 540.000 premises in Ireland with minimum download speed of 150 Mbps. Around 146.000 kilometres of fibre will cover 96% of Ireland’s land mass. NBI will be a wholesaler offering passive and active wholesale products to all retail and wholesale service providers willing to provide services in the area. The services will be offered to all broadband retail providers from the largest to the smallest, on a non-discriminatory basis.

The aims of the government with respect to digital connectivity are also set out in the national digital strategy, Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework, published in 2022. The strategy is to drive the digital transition across the Irish economy and society. The ambition is making connectivity available to everyone, including through the National Broadband Plan, Remote Working Hubs and Broadband Connection Points, with a target of having all Irish households and businesses covered by Gigabit network no later than 2028 and all populated areas covered by 5G no later than 2030.

Main measures for broadband coverage

Regarding broadband mapping, the Irish government has established an interactive High-Speed Broadband Map. The mapping tool provides an overview of the areas covered by operators and areas subject to the State Intervention of the National Broadband Plan. The Map is updated on a quarterly basis to reflect the movement of premises from white to grey.

National and regional broadband financial instruments

The State Intervention in the form of the National Broadband Plan aims at connecting all communities, as commercial operators have made it clear that there are parts of the country where they will not make high-speed broadband services available commercially. The intervention aims to provide high-speed broadband to every premises in the country with no existing or planned high-speed broadband network. This is a complex and ambitious national infrastructure project to build, operate and maintain a high-speed broadband network over a 25-year contract.

For the Recovery and Resilience Plan, the allocation for connectivity is EUR 19 million. The connectivity measure will help public administrations maximise the benefit from 5G technologies. The investment consists in building a low-latency platform with a high-speed backbone using edge compute nodes to enable a faster response.

Data on broadband development and technologies in Ireland

For the latest data on broadband coverage, subscriptions and penetrations, coverage of different broadband technologies check the country reports of the Digital Economy & Society Index (DESI).

Spectrum assignments for wireless broadband

For details on harmonised spectrum assignments, please consult the European 5G Observatory report.

National and EU publications and press documents

• A National Broadband Plan for Ireland
• Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework
• High Speed Broadband Map
• Broadband Officers contact list
• Broadband Investment Handbook
• Mobile and Fixed Broadband Prices in Europe 2022
• Study on National Broadband Plans in the EU27
• Broadband Connectivity Reports and Analyses

Contact information

BCO Ireland (national Broadband Competence Office):
Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications

Address: 29-31 Adelaide Road, Dublin, D02 X285, Ireland
Contact via email
Phone: +353 1 6782337
Website

Commission for Communications Regulation

Address: 1 Dockland Central, Guild Street, Dublin 1, D01 E4X0, Ireland
Contact via email
Phone: + 353 1 804 9600
Website​