Broadband usage surges with average home now consuming 316GB per month

Ireland’s household penetration rate for broadband is above the EU average

Fixed broadband subscriptions increased to 1.5 million, a 0.8% increase for the three months to the end of September.

Broadband usage in Irish homes has surged in the past year according to new figures from communications regulator ComReg.

With large sections of the country's workforce still working from home due to Covid-19 restrictions, the figures show the average broadband subscriber now uses 315.9GB of data each month, an increase of 60.4% compared to the same period in 2019.

Fixed broadband subscriptions increased to 1.5 million, a 0.8% increase for the three months to the end of September and an increase of 3.6% compared to the third quarter of 2019.

ComReg said Eir holds 30.3% of total retail fixed-broadband subscriptions, followed by Virgin Media with 25.5% of subscriptions. Vodafone had 19.4%, while Sky Ireland and Imagine had had a 13.5% and 2.4% market share respectively.

According to Eurostat, Ireland’s household penetration rate for broadband is now 90%, slightly higher than the EU average of 89%.

In relation to the mobile phone market, the Comreg report shows there were just under seven million mobile subscriptions at the end of September.

Vodafone remains the dominant player in the mobile market with 38.1% market share followed by Three with 35.7%, Eir with 17.0% and Tesco Mobile at 6.2%.