Minister for Communications Denis Naughten today announced details of an agreement between the Government and eir. 

Under this agreement, eir will deliver broadband to 300,575 premises around the country by December 2018. Each of the properties will receive the minimum download speeds of 30 megabits per second and 6 megabits per second of uploads speeds. 

eir’s proposal to meet this requirement involves bringing fibre to 90% of the homes.

These premises were previously part of the National Broadband Plan. This reduces the number of homes targeted by the NBP to 542,000. This number includes an additional 84,500 premises, which Minister Naughten has added into the State Intervention Area.

Some 990,000 citizens live within the State Intervention Area. This figure is made up of more than 52,000 farms, 47,000 SMEs, 437 schools and 310 business parks. 

Rural Ireland

In 2016, only 52% of premises had access to High-Speed Broadband. This development will bring that figure to 77% by the end of 2018. The Government says the majority of the remaining premises will have access by the end of 2020.

Speaking today, Minister Naughten said, “Today is a good day for rural Ireland. The agreement that I have signed with eir means one house every minute of every working day will get fibre to the door high-speed quality broadband – that’s an extra 500 houses every day.”

When discussing details of the contract between the Government and eir, Minister Denis Naughten expressly stated that eir will face penalties if they fail to deliver. 

Minister @DenisNaughten says @eir will face penalities if they do not meet the targets set out in the agreement @NewstalkFM pic.twitter.com/yACLW5E580

— NT Business & Tech (@NTBusinessTech) April 4, 2017

The updated National Broadband Plan Map is available to view here.