Ireland still plays broadband catch-up Print this article

Businesses in many other countries can procure significantly faster broadband services for the prices charged in Ireland, according to a recent report.

The report, Ireland’s Broadband Performance and Policy Actions, published by Forfás, focuses on the key indicators of Ireland’s current broadband performance and highlights Ireland’s position regarding the development of next generation networks (NGNs), as well as recommending a number of policy actions.

It states that the fastest DSL connection available to businesses in Ireland is 24 Mb/s. While this speed is comparable with many EU countries, this service is only available in a very limited number of locations in Irish cities.

12 Mb/s connections are more widely available for businesses in Ireland, which means the speeds available to businesses in large parts of the country compare relatively poorly to those available in other countries. Businesses in many other countries can procure significantly faster services for the prices charged in Ireland, particularly those subscribing to the 12 Mb/s service.

A leased line is a private, symmetric telecommunications line connecting two locations – typically used by large companies. The cost of a 34 Mb leased line in Ireland is similar to the EU average but it exceeds leading countries by a considerable margin, the report notes.

In terms of residential connections, the report continues, Ireland compares very poorly with leading countries in terms of the fastest speed broadly available, which is 20.48 Mb/s at a cost of €423 per annum excluding VAT. This speed will become available to approximately 35 per cent of Irish households – predominantly in cities – when the upgrade of the cable network is complete, the report predicts.

Much faster speeds are available in many other European countries at a comparable cost – for example France, Sweden, Denmark, the UK and Germany. The EU-15 average is a connection speed of 50.8 Mb/s at an annual cost of €430. In South Korea, France, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands some residential customers can avail of speeds of over 100 Mb/s – though take-up rates vary considerably between countries.

More positively, the report argues that Ireland has made significant progress in the last two years in terms of the availability of current generation or basic broadband services. Specifically:

Broadband connections now account for 90 per cent of internet connections, compared to 58 per cent in Q1 2007, which represents a significant transition from dial-up;
Since the beginning of 2008, much of the growth has been driven by mobile broadband access, which has increased rapidly to account for 30 per cent of broadband connections in Q3 2009; and,
Coverage and take-up rates are converging to the OECD average. Ireland has 21.4 subscribers per 100 inhabitants compared to the OECD average of 22.4 (excluding mobile broadband as defined by the OECD for international comparisons).

The latest data for Ireland shows that the broadband penetration rate is 29.7 if mobile broadband is included.

However, further progress is required if Ireland is to match the leading countries, such as the Netherlands (38.1) and Denmark (37).