Seán Sherlock
Ceist:56. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the number of homes and businesses connected to fibre as of May 2024 nationwide. [20954/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 14 May 2024
Ceisteanna (56)
Freagraí scríofa
In fulfilment of the commitment of Ireland’s Digital Connectivity Strategy, the level of connections is exceeding initial projections.
Along with the progress made by commercial operators in expanding their next generation networks throughout the State, the National Broadband Plan (NBP) intervention contract provides for the roll out of a high speed and future-proofed broadband network to primarily rural areas. The intervention area covers over 1.1 million people living and working in over 560,000 premises, including almost 100,000 businesses and farms along with some 672 schools.
I am advised by National Broadband Ireland (NBI) that over 243,000 premises are passed across 26 counties and available for immediate connection.
Over 80,200 premises are already connected to the NBP high-speed broadband network.
Commercial fixed line operators submit their data regarding connections to ComReg on a quarterly basis.
The most recent data available is for Q4 of 2023 which was published by ComReg on the 7th of March 2024.
As of Q4 of 2023;
• Open Eir report 402,570 connections,
• SIRO report 173,169 and
• Virgin Media report 24,866 Fibre connections.
Recent ComReg data shows that Quarter 4 of 2023, saw a 7.51% increase in fibre broadband subscriptions compared to Quarter 3, 2023, and a 33.33% increase when compared to Quarter 4 of 2022. This demonstrates that the take-up of fibre connectivity for homes and businesses is increasing greatly as the services are deployed to areas where they had previously been unavailable.
The same ComReg data also indicates that c. 40% of homes and business throughout the State are now subscribed to gigabit services through either fibre (667,771) or cable (348,251) infrastructure. In addition, the ComReg data reports at the end of Q4 2023, 75% of all premises in Ireland have access to gigabit services.