Eir has announced it has passed one million homes and businesses with its broadband fibre-to-the-home network.

The latest figures from ComReg for Q3 2022 show 465,000 premises are fibre-to-the-premises subscribers, up 7.4% from the previous quarter and 36% year-on-year. There are more than 1.9m broadband connections in Ireland

Eir has committed to rolling 10Gbps gigabit broadband to 1.9m premises or 84% of homes and businesses in Ireland by the end of 2026, and the French company said it anticipates that it will complete the rollout two years before the government's target date.

National Broadband Ireland, which is carrying out the National Broadband Plan on behalf of the government, is expected to deliver fibre connections to the remaining 16% of premises by 2028 for total national coverage by the end of the decade.

“I'm delighted that eir's fibre roll-out sees Ireland become one of the best countries in Europe for broadband internet access. Last year we were in the top eight for fibre access; this year I expect we'll be in the top five," said Oliver Loomes, CEO of Eir.

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Communications minister Eamon Ryan claimed that the government commitment to providing high-speed broadband to every premises in Ireland by 2028 is "well on schedule".

"The National Broadband Plan is designed to reach the hardest to reach places. In order to ensure nationwide connectivity, we see that it works best in partnership with the commercial sector. I congratulate Eir on leading the way to meeting the goals of the National Digital Strategy, exceeding their own targets in the process.” the minister added.

Eir held a 27.3% share of total retail fixed broadband subscriber lines in Q3 2022, ahead of Virgin Media with 24.1%, Vodafone with 20%, and Sky Ireland with 14.3%.

Photo: Eir ambassadors and hurlers Declan Hannon and Eoghan O’Donnell. (Pic: Chris Bellew / Fennells)