Satellite broadband subscriptions jump 92% in Ireland

ComReg report also shows average mobile voice subscribers used 136 minutes per month

Starlink satellite antennas on display at an international trade show. The number of satellite broadband subscribers in Ireland has almost doubled in the past year, with 38,181 active satellite broadband subscriber lines.  Picture: Odd Andersen /AFP/Getty

The number of satellite broadband subscribers in Ireland has almost doubled in the past year, with 38,181 active satellite broadband subscriber lines, new data from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) shows. 

On Thursday, ComReg released its Quarterly Key Data Report on the Electronic Communications market for the second quarter of 2026, covering April 1 to June 30. It showed that satellite subscriptions have increased considerably, up 16.7% on the first quarter of 2026, and up 92.1% year on year. Elon Musk's Starlink is the largest satellite internet provider and has discounted its starting prices considerably in the past year, with packages now starting at €35 per month. 

Overall, at the end of June 2026, there were almost 2.18m active total broadband subscriber lines in Ireland. This is a 0.5% increase from the previous quarter and a 3.5% increase on Q2 2025. In Q2 2026, Eir had 28.3% of total retail fixed broadband subscriber lines, followed by Vodafone at 20.7%, Virgin Media at 19.4%, Sky Ireland at 15.6%, Pure Telecom at 2.5%, Digiweb at 2.2%, Three Group at 2.2%, and Starlink at 2.1%. All other authorised operators combined accounted for the remaining 6.9% share of retail fixed broadband subscriber lines.

On a monthly basis, an average residential fixed broadband subscriber line used 576 GB of data, an increase of 16% since Q2 2025. Businesses have used 397 GB of data, an increase of 12% compared to Q2 2025.

FTTP - Fibre to the Premises - is the most purchased broadband technology and is available at 87% of all premises in Ireland. Gigabit broadband is available at 92% of all premises in Ireland. Every county had at least 80% FTTP coverage at the end of Q2. The county with the highest level of FTTP coverage is Westmeath at 95%. Cork has 88% FTTP coverage, Dublin 80%, Kerry 93%, Limerick 89%, Tipperary 93%, Waterford 90%, and Galway 88%.  

The ComReg quarterly report also looked at Ireland's mobile market. In Q2 2026, Three had the largest share of mobile subscriptions including MBB and M2M at 50.2%. This was followed by Vodafone with 26.3%, Eir with 14.6%, Tesco Mobile at 4.5%, Lyca Mobile at 1.5%, Virgin Mobile at 1.4%, Sky Mobile at 0.9%, and An Post Mobile at 0.5%.

The report showed that, on a monthly basis an average mobile voice subscriber used 136 minutes, sent 30 texts (a 5% annual decrease), and used 22.8GB of data (a 16% annual increase). 79% of all mobile subscribers are bill pay.