The National Broadband Plan is on track to be completed by the end of next year, with almost 157,000 homes, farms and businesses now connected to high-speed fibre broadband.
The Government initiative has passed nearly 440,000 premises that can order the connection, putting it in advance of the original end of year target of 420,000.
National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company responsible for delivering the NBP, said it has completed build works to 80 per cent of all premises in the plan’s intervention area.
The State Intervention Area includes parts of the country where private companies have indicated they have no plans to invest.
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It includes over 564,000 premises and over 1.1 million people, and it also includes any new homes built in the Intervention Area over the next 20 years.
The NBP is expected to be delivered within the capped State subsidy envelope of €2.6 billion, set at contract signing in 2019, according to NBI.
While general inflation in Ireland has risen by 22.5 per cent since the project commenced, NBI said it has limited cost inflation on the project to 8 per cent.
Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan said that the NBP is “transforming daily life across rural Ireland” with high-speed fibre broadband helping families access education and healthcare remotely, supporting the growth of small businesses, and allowing more people to work locally.
“It is ensuring that rural areas can compete on an equal footing with our cities,” he said.
“By the end of next year, Ireland will have one of the most advanced rural fibre networks anywhere in the world, leaving a legacy for communities for decades to come.”
