Ireland showing signs of broadband growth

24-04-2007

by Maxim Kelly

Irish broadband connections doubled in 2006, but the Republic is still languishing in the last third of developed countries.

New statistics from the 30 nation-strong Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) rank Ireland twenty-third with 12.5 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants as of December 2006. Although this figure is still low compared to leading nations such as Denmark and Norway where subscriptions exceed 30 per 100, it is an improvement on Ireland's 6.5 per 100 population last year.

Indeed Ireland, along with Denmark, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway showed strong per capita growth during 2006, with each country adding more than 5.8 subscribers per 100 population over 12 months.

"The growth rate for Ireland has been spectacular over the past 12 months, which is saying something when 25 percent of the population still cannot avail of broadband," said Damien Mulley of broadband lobby group Ireland Offline. "If the Government's broadband tender is announced and rolled out quickly, in addition to the pre-election announcements from Eircom, then it will allow almost 100 percent of the population to get broadband."

Mulley believes if these pledges are met, Ireland can surpass the OECD and EU broadband averages within a year or two, and called on Minister for Communications Noel Dempsey to announce the national broadband tender "as a matter of urgency".

In a statement to ENN, a Department of Communications official said Ireland's low ranking in the 'take-up' of broadband reflects the relatively late launch of competitive broadband services by telecoms and cable TV companies.

"Our position on these rankings will improve, allowing for the different population demographics in Ireland, as long as we have more competition and more choice. The soon to be announced National Broadband Scheme will target the remaining 10 percent of the population in predominately rural areas who still do not have access to broadband services."

Ireland is still below the OECD average of 16.9 subscriptions per 100, up from a 13.5 percent penetration figure last year. Overall, the number of broadband subscribers in the OECD increased 26 percent from 157 million in December 2005 to 197 million in December 2006.

The OECD calculated Ireland had 517,300 broadband subscribers at the end of 2006, ahead of Iceland, Luxembourg, the Slovak Republic and Greece. The statistics show DSL broadband is the most common connection technology in Ireland, followed by 'Others' (eg satellite), and cable modems.

The OECD said Ireland had no fibre connections in 2006 which, although realistically untrue -- Irish operators are beginning to roll out fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in a few areas -- is worrying as countries such as Slovakia, which are looking to compete with Ireland in attracting multinationals, are showing fibre take-up.

Operators in several countries are upgrading to fibre. FTTH and fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) subscriptions now comprise nearly 7 percent of all broadband connections in the OECD and the percentage is growing. Korea and Japan each have more than six fibre-based broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants.

Fibre subscribers alone in Japan (7.9 million) outnumber total broadband subscribers in 23 of the 30 OECD countries.

The United States has the largest total number of broadband subscribers in the OECD at 58.1 million. US broadband subscribers now represent 29 percent of all broadband connections in the OECD.

The OECD comprises Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Republic of Korea, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, and the United States.