The latest quarterly report from ComReg reveals that Ireland now has a broadband penetration rate of 16.5%.
The figures show almost 700,000 people are now using various broadband services here.
Mobile broadband subscriptions account for 45,000 of the overall figure, making it one of the fastest growing segments of the market.
The Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said today he expects that the overall number of subscribers here will be above the EU average (18.1%) by the end of the year but more must be done to drive the rollout in the coming months.
He says he's hopeful that competition between the different service providers will lead to cost reductions and faster connection speeds.
He wants the tender process for the National Broadband Scheme to be completed as soon as possible, so work can begin on bringing the service to parts of the country that currently have no connectivity.
Minister Ryan also says he'd like to see integrated billing for fixed line, mobile and broadband subscribers so they could pay one monthly bill, rather than two or three as is presently the case.
