Eircom is to begin offering superfast broadband of up to one gigabit per second to homes in 66 communities across the country.
The development will see the rollout of fibre to the home (FTTH) - where fibre optic cable is routed right into users dwellings.
Currently most high speed broadband connections involve fibre optic line running to a cabinet in the street, with the last leg into the house running over copper wire, which limits the speed of the connection.
Work in rolling out the new connections will begin next month.
Cavan town, Kilkenny City and Letterkenny town are the first locations due to be offered the service, with construction taking six months.
However, customers' connections will only be provided where demand for the faster connectivity emerges.
Eircom plans to extend the rollout footprint to areas of all five major cities, major regional centres and every county town in Ireland.
The decision represents a further intensification of plans by Eircom to roll out of a fibre based network.
It follows the weekend approval by the European Commission of a plan by Vodafone and the ESB to build a fibre broadband infrastructure around the country.
Competition in the broadband market is intensifying as operators offer more speed and services in a bid to attract customers who will help pay for the massive investment involved in rolling out fibre based networks.
However, critics say that rural Ireland still remains a poor relation in the market, with many rural dwellers having to manage with the most basic of broadband connections.
In the next few weeks the Government is due to publish maps of areas that have still not been reached by commercial operators, with a view to a large investment by the state in the provision of broadband services in these areas.
