Of the 400,147 homes, businesses, farms and schools passed, 140,592 have connected to the network, a take-up rate of around 35pc.
The company building the network, National Broadband Ireland, says surveys for all remaining 164,000 rural premises have been done with connection build-out for those premises underway.
Mainstream broadband retailers such as Vodafone, Eir and Sky all use the NBI network, with rural customers ordering services through these retailers as they would in a city.
To check whether a premises can receive the broadband service, people living in rural Ireland can enter their Eircode on the NBI website (nbi.ie). More than 50 broadband providers are currently selling on the open-access network.
Under the subsidy rules, users of the rural broadband network must receive at least as good a service as fibre broadband customers in urban areas from companies such as Eir and Virgin.
According to NBI, take-up rates of the rural service are now approaching 60pc in areas where the network has been live the longest, such as in rural areas near Athlone, Castlebar and Emyvale. NBI says that fibre broadband is also available to order on 19 islands, including Achill Island where the first homes and businesses began connecting in June.
While NBI is due to complete the national rollout in 2027, the company says that it is now on course to surpass its 2025 target of 420,000 premises passed.
“Every week, thousands more premises are being made ready for service, and the level of interest and demand we’re seeing is remarkable,” said TJ Malone, CEO of National Broadband Ireland.
“Passing 400,000 premises marks another major step forward in the delivery of the National Broadband Plan.”
Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan said the advent of rural broadband has been “transformative” in bridging the digital divide and “breathing new life” into once isolated communities. “Even the most remote parts of our country now have the opportunity to sustain local businesses, educate their children and preserve a way of life in a modern, connected world,” he said.
“National Broadband Ireland is playing an instrumental role in delivering one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects in the history of the State.”
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