Only 70,000 homes will be connected under the National Broadband Plan in 2022, which is 20,000 fewer than the initial target.
The rollout will reach only 60,000 premises this year - just over half the previous target of 115,000.
The Department of Communications will appear before an Oireachtas committee today to speak about Covid-related delays.
Former communications minister, Denis Naughten, says he's very concerned about the plan for next year.
"The target that is now being set for next year is 70,000 homes.
"That's just 10,000 more homes than this year, a year when we were impacted to a certain extent at least by Covid-19.
"Next year we're going to see just 10,000 more homes delivered upon."
