eir’s Gigabit Fibre Network now available to more than 800,000 homes and businesses across Ireland

 Ireland on track to become one of the most connected countries in the world.

25th April, 2022: eir, Ireland’s largest telecommunications provider, today announced that it has passed more than 800,000 homes and businesses with its Gigabit Fibre Network. eir is investing €500m into Ireland’s Fibre to the Home (FTTH) network. By 2026 eir will have delivered access to super-fast Gigabit broadband to 84% of premises in Ireland.

eir began building an urban focused FTTH network in 2019 following the completion of its rural FTTH programme, which was rolled out to 340,000 homes and businesses. Expansion work has continued at pace with eir’s engineering teams continuing to work throughout the pandemic, passing more than 400,000 homes during that time. On completion eir’s high-speed Gigabit Fibre Network will reach all corners of Ireland, providing 1.9m homes and businesses across the island with access to future-proof FTTH technology. This FTTH network build, which will serve 84% of homes and businesses in the country, coupled with the Government’s National Broadband Plan, means that Ireland is on track to becoming one of the most fibre connected countries in the world.

Eavann Murphy, Managing Director of Open eir Wholesale, stated: "Our purpose is to connect for a better Ireland and we do this by building world class fibre networks for the people of Ireland. We are extremely proud of the scale and pace of this FTTH network build and I think it is particularly remarkable that approximately 400,000 of these homes and businesses were passed during the pandemic. We are building a future-proofed network capable of delivering speeds of 2Gbps straight to the customer’s home, across all cities, every town and almost every village in the country. 

Gigabit connectivity is enabling a truly connected country, opening up opportunities for people to live, work and connect wherever they choose in Ireland and I am very proud that we are building this wholesale fibre network for all of Ireland.  As a wholesale business, we deliver choice with 40+ service providers selling our network to both consumers and businesses.” 

Fibre provides faster and more reliable broadband connectivity than previously available technology, with connected customers now using eir’s Gigabit Fibre Network for e-commerce, remote working, remote learning, seamless video conferencing, downloading games, and streaming movies - all at superfast speed.

eir’s FTTH network roll-out is a key part of eir’s €1 billion capital investment programme to transform and expand its fixed and mobile network, delivering world class infrastructure informed by the needs of its customers, now and into the future.