More than 100,000 people have signed up for flat-rate internet services, with almost half this number subscribing to broadband, new figures published by the Government show.

The statistics, which were provided to EU telecommunications ministers yesterday, show 42,000 businesses and consumers are using broadband technology, a threefold increase in six months.

Broadband enables users to connect to the internet at speeds up to 10-times faster than typical dial-up modems for a flat-rate fee every month. Take-up of the technology has been slow in the Republic, but the Government statistics show demand is increasing as broadband internet prices fall.

A further 60,000 consumers or businesses have signed up for flat-rate internet packages that use more traditional dial-up internet technologies. A range of these flat-rate packages were introduced last year following intervention by the Minister for Communications, Mr Ahern.

Eircom had previously not offered consumers or its rivals access to its network in order to provide a flat-rate service.

Meanwhile, a €25 million plan by the Government to help communities set up group broadband schemes was criticised yesterday by a pressure group representing internet users, IrelandOffline.

The scheme, which Mr Ahern says is modelled on group water schemes, will offer small communities - of up to 1,500 people - funding to help them set up a broadband service in conjunction with a broadband provider.

The Government will provide up to 55 per cent funding towards the cost of a project.

But IrelandOffline said the Government's insistence that local communities team up with commercial internet service providers would not be viable in many rural areas.

"The only business model that has been shown to have been effective in rural communities elsewhere is for non-profit community-owned-and-run networks to be set up, which are not reliant on generating revenue but whose focus is to provide a service to the community," it said.