Eircom's plan to deliver faster broadband across the country over the next three years is welcome but does not address issues in rural Ireland, according to Irish Rural Link.

The group welcomed today’s announcement by Eircom outlining their plan to deliver broadband speeds of 1000Mbs per second to 66 regions across the county within the next three years, saying it is a positive step towards delivering high speed broadband to every home and business in the country.

However the group said it fails to address the 700,000 homes in rural Ireland which are excluded from Eircom's plan.

Seamus Boland, CEO of Irish Rural Link said that 10,000 jobs could be created in rural areas by providing adequate infrastructure such as fibre optic broadband, allowing them to compete with urban centres. The group believe that national recovery and investment have been concentrated to cities with little spill over to their hinterlands.