Ireland’s €2.7 billion ($3.1 billion) National Broadband Plan (NBP) is transforming rural connectivity, with Ookla’s analysis confirming that the state-backed investment has increased broadband speeds and cut the country’s digital divide.
Since the project launched in November 2019, National Broadband Ireland (NBI) has passed more than 490,000 premises, representing 87 percent of its planned 566,000-home and business rollout. The wholesale-only fiber network now covers construction across the entire planned footprint, making it one of Europe’s largest rural broadband infrastructure investments.
Download speeds across the intervention area surged from 11.60 Mbps in 2019 to 156.99 Mbps by mid-2026, representing a 13.5-fold increase. Upload speeds climbed from 4.67 Mbps to 49.48 Mbps, driven by the rollout of XGS-PON fiber technology capable of supporting 10 Gbps broadband services.
Massive investment delivers future-ready fiber
The broadband project is backed by a government subsidy capped at €2.7 billion, including a €2.1 billion base investment, €500 million contingency funding and €100 million allocated for VAT.
Building fiber across Ireland’s sparsely populated countryside has required more than 100,000 kilometres of fiber infrastructure, serving fewer than six premises per kilometre. Official estimates place government support between €3,569 and €3,946 per premises, with the subsidy cap reaching nearly €4,800 per connection.
Unlike many European deployments based on older GPON technology, Ireland’s network uses Nokia XGS-PON, enabling 10 Gbps services. Retail providers initially launched 500 Mbps broadband, followed by 2 Gbps services in January 2022, with 5 Gbps products now emerging.
Rural broadband speeds improve immediately after activation
The analysis found that broadband performance changes almost instantly after fiber becomes available.
Download speeds remained near 27 Mbps for almost two years before service activation. Within 12 months of rollout, speeds exceeded 150 Mbps, representing a 5.7-fold improvement. Tracking the same households before and after connection showed broadband performance improving by 10.3 times.
By mid-2026:
Download speed reached 156.99 Mbps
Upload speed increased to 49.48 Mbps
Homes below 30 Mbps fell from 84 percent to 14 percent
62 percent of connections exceeded 100 Mbps
Around 25 percent achieved speeds above 300 Mbps
The gap between urban and rural Ireland also narrowed sharply. Urban download speeds were 4.8 times faster than rural areas in 2019, but by 2026 that difference had fallen to just 1.6 times. Rural upload speeds have now slightly surpassed urban broadband performance, reflecting the advantages of modern fiber infrastructure.
Strong customer adoption validates the investment
NBI reports average customer take-up of around 37 percent across completed areas, with adoption exceeding 60 percent in locations where fiber has been available the longest.
The study also highlights the growing role of broadband hardware in determining customer experience. Around 70 percent of Digiweb’s installed base had upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 or newer by the second quarter of 2026, while Vodafone reached 40 percent adoption. Eir crossed the 50 percent mark during the same period, whereas Sky still had 73 percent of customers using older Wi-Fi 5 equipment, limiting achievable in-home speeds despite identical fiber infrastructure.
Fiber rollout reduces reliance on Starlink
The research also demonstrates the impact of fiber deployment on satellite broadband demand.
In rural areas still awaiting fiber, Starlink accounted for 14.3 percent of fixed broadband testing devices by mid-2026. However, in communities connected to NBI’s fiber network since 2021 and 2022, Starlink’s share remained below 2 percent for five years, indicating that demand for satellite broadband largely disappears once high-speed fiber becomes available.
Performance of Major Broadband Operators on Ireland’s National Broadband Network
Digiweb emerged as the strongest performer in Wi-Fi modernization, with 70 percent of its customer base using Wi-Fi 6 or newer routers by Q2 2026. It crossed the 50 percent adoption mark in mid-2024, around a year ahead of larger rivals, enabling customers to better utilize NBI’s 500 Mbps and gigabit fiber services.
Eir reached an important milestone by surpassing 50 percent Wi-Fi 6 adoption in Q2 2026, improving customers’ ability to achieve higher in-home broadband speeds over the XGS-PON network.
Vodafone accelerated router upgrades after a prolonged period of limited progress. After remaining at roughly 11 percent Wi-Fi 6 adoption between 2022 and 2024, it increased to 40 percent by Q2 2026, significantly improving customer performance.
Sky lagged behind competitors in customer equipment upgrades. Despite being one of the largest retail providers on the NBI network, 73 percent of its installed base still relied on Wi-Fi 5 routers in Q2 2026, limiting the performance customers could experience on gigabit-capable fiber connections. The report also noted that Sky historically routed some traffic through the UK, contributing to higher application latency and occasional IP geolocation issues.
While all operators deliver services over the same 10 Gbps-capable Nokia XGS-PON infrastructure provided by National Broadband Ireland, customer experience increasingly depends on each retailer’s router upgrades, home Wi-Fi technology, and core network design rather than the fiber network itself.
BABURAJAN KIZHAKEDATH