The National Broadband Plan (NBP) is the Government initiative to deliver high-speed broadband to all premises in Ireland. In addition, Ireland's Digital Connectivity Strategy published in December 2022, sets out a number of targets including that all Irish households and businesses will be covered by a Gigabit network no later than 2028.
National Broadband Ireland (NBI) advises that they are on track to complete the deployment of high speed broadband to more that 568,000 premises by the end of 2026. NBI has passed 451,557 premises across 26 counties, is connecting approximately 4,500 premises to its fibre network per month with 165,869 premises already connected to the NBP high-speed network. Further details are available on specific areas which can be monitored via https://nbi.ie/reps/. NBI has a dedicated email address, reps@nbi.ie, which can be used by Oireachtas members for specific queries.
Alongside the NBP intervention contract, commercial operators continue to upgrade their networks throughout the State to primarily urban areas and contribute materially to achieving the Digital Connectivity Strategy targets. Commercial operators have indicated that their networks will be upgraded to all urban areas by 2028.
The Department is continuing to monitor these upgrades to ensure any unnecessary barriers to this investment are addressed so that the risk of any potential blackspots is mitigated. These measures include making the processes to access existing infrastructure easier and ensuring new housing developments are designed to facilitate telecommunications connectivity from the outset.
