Telecommunications in Ireland operate in a regulated competitive market that provides customers with a wide array of advanced digital services. This article explores Ireland's telecommunications infrastructure including: fixed and mobile networks, The voice, data and Internet services, cable television, developments in next-generation networks and broadcast networks for radio and television.
Regulation
Telecommunications, including radio frequency spectrum licensing and the postal sector, are regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). ComReg was established on 1 December 2002. The Coimisiún na Meán is the regulator of both public and commercial broadcasting sector in Ireland. It was established on 15 March 2023, replacing the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) ()
The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment has overall responsibility for national policy and regulation of both telecommunications and broadcasting.
The telecommunications market in Ireland was opened to competition in 1998., CNN, 7 December 1998
ComReg is the National Regulator for electronic communications in Ireland, covering the telecommunications networks and services, and spectrum. ComReg has 1.775 million fixed broadband subscriber lines and 10.92 million mobile subscriptions (including mobile broadband and machine-to-machine subscriptions) in Q1 2026. The three major mobile phone companies are Eir, Three Ireland and Vodafone Ireland.
Eir remains the largest telecommunications company in Ireland, offering fixed, mobile, and broadband services. As Bord Telecom Éireann, the company was state owned until 1999, when it was floated on the Irish and New York Stock Exchanges.
Infrastructure Ireland's telecommunications network is a modern digital system connected by an extensive national fibre optic network with multiple high-capacity fibre optic links to the UK, Continental Europe, North America and with dedicated capacity on routes to Asia and other parts of the globe. There is an open and competitive telecommunications market regulated by ComReg. However, the fixed-line market is still dominated by the incumbent operator Eir.
Several companies operate national fibre optic networks including Eir, BT Ireland, ESB Group and Virgin Media Ireland. Eir's fibre network is the most extensive covering most parts of the country with 12,000 km of fibre routes (>40,000 km of fibres)Eircom.
Eir's Next Generation Network upgrade rolled out dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) which is capable of delivering up to 320 Gbit/s along a single fibre route. This upgrade also sees Eir's core infrastructure moving to an all-IP network. It has major aggregation nodes at 140 locations around Ireland and onward fibre connections to another 470 central office sites.
Ireland also has major connections to multiple international fibre optic networks.
94 Irish towns and cities also have access to publicly owned, carrier-neutral metropolitan fibre networks managed by Enet.Enet
These networks can be used by any licensed Irish telecommunications operator to provide commercial or residential end users with products.
For residential and small business providers, most major urban areas have access to Virgin Media Ireland's HFC network which provides speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s using EuroDOCSIS 3.1 cable modem technology.
Open Eir is also in the process of rolling out FTTH which provides speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s down and 100 Mbit/s up. They also provide an extensive vectored VDSL2 based FTTC access network, using the legacy copper network. This offers speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s down and 20 Mbit/s up.
Retail services using this next-generation access infrastructure are provided by approximately 15 operators.
SIRO, a joint venture between ESB Group and Vodafone Ireland, provides another open access fibre to home network, used by multiple ISPs to deliver service. Fibre is run alongside ESB Networks 230 V/400 V LV electricity distribution system, sharing underground ducts and poles, with fibre typically entering premises next to the electricity meter. This, similar to Eir's FTTH network, delivers speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s and is capable of delivery of 10 Gbit/s in the future.
Ireland has three mobile networks that own and operate their own network infrastructure and a number of MVNO operators that operate mobile phone services using one of these infrastructure providers' radio networks. The three infrastructure owning networks are Eir Mobile, Three, and Vodafone.
Meteor and Eir Mobile were the first to launch 4G LTE services in Ireland on 26 September 2013, followed by Vodafone on 14 October 2013, and Three on 27 January 2014. O2 was due to launch its 4G services later in 2014, but plans were put on hold when its acquisition by Three was approved in May, and from the time of the merger in 2015, previous O2 customers gained 4G coverage through Three's network, albeit with initial service problems.
In 2016, 41.9% of Ireland's mobile subscriptions were using 4G technology. 3G remained the dominant technology with 44.6% share, however, it is likely to be overtaken by 4G in 2017.
Telephone system
Fixed telephone lines in use 1,168,591 (Q3 2020, ComReg) Mobile cellular telephones: 5,182,682 (Q3 2020, ComReg) Country code: 353
As mobile phone services become more price competitive, more Irish customers are opting to drop landline services. This is reflected by a sharp fall in the number of fixed line channels in use and an equivalent increase in mobile subscriptions. Details are tracked on ComReg's ComStat website
There are three mobile telecommunications providers: Three Ireland, Eir Mobile and Vodafone Ireland.
There are also some MNVOs (Mobile Network Virtual Operators), such as: 48, GoMo, Lycamobile, An Post Mobile, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Mobile and Clear Mobile.
History The original network was taken over by the Irish Department of Posts and Telegraphs (P&T) from the British General Post Office in 1921 and used a mixture of manual and step-by-step automatic exchanges. Development of the network was relatively stagnant with slow rollout of automatic switching using step-by-step exchanges until after WWII. From 1957 onwards, P&T began to roll out more modern crossbar switches primarily using equipment supplied by Ericsson built at their Athlone facility. ITT Pentaconta crossbar switches, built by CGCT (Compagnie générale de constructions téléphoniques) were also used in some areas. This saw significant improvements to many services, but the network was still quite underdeveloped in rural areas with long waits for new subscribers and the last operator-only exchanges only closing in 1987.
Digital switching was introduced in 1980 using Ericsson AXE and Alcatel E10 switches both of which were manufactured at facilities in Ireland. This saw a total transformation of the telephone network with modern automatic and digital services reaching even the most rural parts of Ireland by the mid-1980s.
The fixed-line network is now made up of multiple operators using a diverse range of digital technologies including VoIP.
Ireland's first mobile telephone network, Eircell, went live in 1986 using the analogue TACS system. 2G GSM services from Eircell launched on 1 July 1993. Digifone followed in 1997, then Meteor in 2001 (having been licensed in 1998) and 3 Ireland launched its UMTS 3G-only service in 2005.
3G services launched in 2004 (Vodafone Ireland) and other networks quickly followed suit, and 4G launched in 2013 (Meteor) and is now available on most networks. Meteor was bought out by Eir in 2005 and eventually rebranded as Eir in 2017.
Internet
Internet users: 3.6 million, 77% of the population, 70th in the world (2011);Percentage of Individuals using the Internet 2000–2011, International Telecommunication Union, accessed on 19 August 2012. 3.0 million, 67th in the world (2009)"Communications :: Ireland", The World Factbook, U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, retrieved 28 February 2013 Dial-up subscriptions: 11,437 (Q4 2012 ComStat) Fixed broadband subscriptions: 1,506,832 (Q3 2020, ComReg) Mobile broadband subscriptions: 323,530 (Q3 2020, ComReg) Internet hosts: 1.4 million, 40th in the world (2012) Internet censorship: None (2011)"Ireland: Freedom of Speech and Press and Internet Freedom", Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2011, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State Top-level domain name: .ie
Broadband Internet access is available in Ireland via DSL, cable, wireless, and satellite. By the end of 2011 Eircom announced that 75% of its working lines would be connected to Next Generation Broadband (NGB) enabled exchanges."Annual Report 2010 / 2011", Commission for Communications Regulation, 20 April 2012
Currently available services (Q3 2014) ADSL - up to 24 Mbit/s - (several providers and unbundled services are available.) FTTC - VDSL up to 100 Mbit/s down 20 Mbit/s up (several providers - vectoring technology is used) Cable - Speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s - Main provider Virgin Media Ireland Fibre - Delivered via multiple commercial providers, including Open Eir, SIRO, Virgin Media and NBI. Residential customers can obtain speeds of up to 2Gbps . Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) - various technologies in use - mostly used in rural areas. Not actively used by majority of consumers. Mobile broadband - 3G, 4G and 5G services are available from several providers. Minimum 4G coverage available for majority of subscribers. Satellite - Low orbit satellite broadband is available.
A typical monthly broadband Internet subscription cost $26.02 in 2011, 14% less than the average of $30.16 for the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries surveyed."USD PPP for Eircom Next Generation Broadband Basic (512 kbit/s up, 8.2 Mbit/s down) as reported in question 4e, OECD Fixed Broadband basket low 2", OECD Broadband statistics, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, September 2011, updated 18 July 2012
In August 2012 Pat Rabbitte, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, outlined a national broadband plan with goals of:"Rabbitte unveils broadband plan", Mary Minihan and Deaglán de Bréadún, The Irish Times, 30 August 2012 70 to 100 Mbit/s broadband service available to at least 50 per cent of the population, at least 40 Mbit/s available to at least a further 20 per cent, and a minimum of 30 Mbit/s available to everyone, no matter how rural or remote.
Founded in 1996, the Internet Neutral Exchange (INEX) is an industry-owned association that provides IP peering and traffic exchange for its members in Ireland. The INEX switching centres are located in five secure data centres in Dublin and one in Cork: TeleCity Group in Kilcarbery Park, Dublin 22 & TeleCity Group in Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24 and Interxion DUB1, and Interxion DUB2 in Park West, and Vodafone Clonshaugh as well as at CIX, Hollyhill, Cork T23 R68N. The switches are connected by dedicated resilient fibre links."History of INEX", Internet Neutral Exchange, retrieved 3 March 2013 In June 2015 it listed 74 full and 21 associate members."INEX Public Member List" , Internet Neutral Exchange, retrieved 1 June 2015
Established in 1998,"About ISPAI" , Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland, retrieved 3 March 2013 the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) listed 24 Internet access and hosting providers as members in 2012."Register of Members (Current)" , Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland, 1 August 2012, retrieved 3 March 2013
Radio and television
Infrastructure Television in Ireland is broadcast using DVB-T using the common platform specifications defined by NorDig which apply in the Nordic countries and Ireland. Video is encoded using the MPEG4 system. The analogue PAL-I broadcasting system is no longer on air.