OECD report 'generally positive' for Ireland

21-05-2008

by Bryan Collins

The latest OECD figures show that 2007 was a good year for broadband penetration growth in Ireland.

The OECD report singled out Luxembourg, Germany and Ireland for having the strongest per capita broadband subscriber growth among the 30 OECD countries last year. During 2007 Ireland ranked third in terms of growth with a 5.89 increase in broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants.

"These latest statistics are extremely encouraging and show the high level of demand for quality broadband services in Ireland. We must ensure the wide availability of a high-standard, quality broadband service for Irish consumers," the Minister for communications Eamon Ryan, told ENN.

"This is no surprise. In terms of the number of people getting broadband and subscribing to it, that is something that we have been working on... since we realised there was a major deficit," added Liam O'Halloran, chairman of the association for Alternative Operators in the Communications Market, also speaking with ENN.

According to the figures there were 767,800 broadband subscribers in Ireland by the end of 2007. The United States was the largest broadband market in the OECD that year with 69.9 million subscribers.

The report isn't entirely positive reading for Ireland, however. According to the OECD's figures the average advertised speed in Ireland was 3011.11Mb per second in 2007. This puts Ireland in 28th position in the world rankings. The top three countries for average advertised broadband speeds were Japan, France, and Korea respectively. Japan's average advertised speed was 93,692.91Mb per second. France and Korea's average advertised speeds were in excess of 40,000Mb per second. Ireland also lagged behind Portugal, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain. The UK's average advertised broadband speed was 10,624Mb per second.

"The items associated with the quality of the broadband would be the next item on the agenda that we need to catch up on. More applications are coming that need more download speeds. Businesses are having a greater and greater need for e-commerce applications and need reliable speeds. I don't think price is a barrier. I think it's the availability... and the quality of what is available," OÂ’Halloran told ENN.

With respect to the average monthly price per advertised megabit per second Ireland ranked mid-table with an average of USD14.92. This means advertised broadband packages in Ireland are generally cheaper than those in New Zealand, Sweden, Australia and Poland. However Irish advertised broadband packages appear to be more expensive than those in the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, France and Japan.

The OECD report recommended that governments discourage misleading advertising and unjustifiably long consumer lock-in periods for broadband packages. And the OECD report authors said that governments need to promote more competition and invest in fibre optic lines.

Minister Ryan pointed out, in response, that his department is due to release a new policy document which should outline the Government's role in deploying the next-generation networks. And in June the National Broadband scheme begins. This aims to connect up the 17 percent of Ireland still without broadband.

"A number of other areas are beginning to change. Customers being able to migrate, for instance from Eircom to an alternate supplier is becoming easier. It is a generally positive report. We just need to keep on at it," concluded O'Halloran.