Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2026
651. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will outline the growth in digital connectivity and data usage in County Kerry (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34233/26]
View answerThe 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 and access to 5G in all populated areas by 2030.
In the Deputy’s own county of Kerry, a significant investment of €107 million is being made under the NBP. There are over 25,040 premises passed with a high-speed fibre broadband network and 26,284 premises available to order/pre-order, with over 7,260 premises now connected. A further circa 2,960 premises in County Kerry will be passed by NBI’s high speed fibre broadband by the end of the network deployment.
Currently, the NBP is expected to come in on time and on budget with the main infrastructure build on schedule to be complete by end of 2026.
Further details are available on specific areas within County Kerry and 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.
Along with the NBP intervention contract, progress is being made by commercial operators’ in expanding their next generation networks throughout the State ensuring the targets set out in the Digital Connectivity Strategy are achieved.
Open eir have advised my department they have already passed over 63,000 homes and businesses in Kerry with gigabit services. SIRO have also advised my department they are continuing to increase their network footprint right across Kerry having recently passed 17,240 premises for full fibre.
The Commission for Communications Regulations (ComReg) collects statistical data from authorised operators on a quarterly basis and this data is available at www.comreg.ie/industry/electronic-communications/data-portal. ComReg updates this Data Portal on a quarterly basis.
Not all operators are included in this data collection (based on minimum revenue levels), but ComReg aims to represent 95% of the total markets.
Map visualisations are also available for ‘Fibre to the Premises (FTTP)’ and ‘Gigabit’ Coverage and Take-Up statistics by County, Local Electoral Area, Electoral Division and other Geographic units can be found at ComReg’s Open Data Map Hub at www.datamaps-comreg.hub.arcgis.com/. Information on the website advises that FTTP and Gigabit Coverage for Kerry is 91.22 % of which 47.37% are active.
Phone service is primarily a matter for mobile network operators, operating on a commercial basis in a liberalised market, regulated by ComReg. ComReg is statutorily independent in the exercise of its functions in accordance with Section 11 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. The majority of Retail Service Providers offer a voice over IP phone service over the broadband network, ensuing that a phone service will become available. In addition, for mobile services, once broadband is active, Wi-Fi calling will improve mobile coverage within homes significantly.
To assist consumers to choose the network provider that best meets their needs, ComReg continually updates and enhances its online national outdoor mobile coverage map (available at: https://coveragemap.comreg.ie, which provides information on mobile network operators’ outdoor coverage for 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks.
ComReg have also advised my officials that they do not collect data usage by county. The National data usage figures are available on https://www.comreg.ie/industry/electronic-communications/data-portal/downloads/.
