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ComReg points to broadband boom

  • 07-09-2004 5:49pm
    #1
    damien
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,290 ✭✭✭


    http://www.enn.ie/frontpage/news-9551327.html

    Ireland's broadband and flat-rate internet take-up levels increased significantly in the second quarter, according to a report by ComReg.

    The quarterly report by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg), which covers the period from April to the end of June 2004, highlights a substantial increase in the number of broadband DSL subscribers in Ireland. The number of DSL lines installed increased by 44 percent from 38,600 in the first quarter of 2004 to 55,500 in the second quarter of the year.

    Flat-rate narrowband internet access (FRIACO), which was launched in June 2003, continues to increase quarter-on-quarter. Subscriptions for the second quarter of 2004 totalled 81,900, up 30 percent from 63,100 in the previous three months.

    "The increasing levels of broadband and flat-rate internet take-up are both welcome and are important contributors to enhancing Ireland's competitiveness. We need to build on this progress so that consumers can take advantage of the improving competition in the telecommunications market," John Doherty, chairperson of ComReg in a statement. "The introduction of the single billing product has the potential to further enhance this process as the initial take-up levels are promising," he added.

    Single billing, or wholesale line rental, was launched on 1 June 2004 and has so far clocked up over 17,000 customers according to ComReg figures. Protagonists in this field currently include Smart Telecom, Esat BT and Access Telecom with UTV preparing to enter the market in the next few weeks. Single billing allows customers to get line rental and call charges from a single company, other than Eircom.

    Despite the launch of a number of operators in the Irish market in recent months, the combined market share for Eircom's competitors offering fixed-line voice services to residential customers has remained static at 20 percent, unchanged from the first quarter figure.

    Other statistics from the ComReg report highlight the near saturated mobile market in Ireland with four out of every five people owning a mobile phone. The statistics show that the percentage of adults who own a mobile phone is now equal to the percentage of adults living homes with a fixed-line phone.

    Meanwhile the market continues to be profitable for the main wireless players; Vodafone, O2 and Meteor all retained their market share of 54 percent, 40 percent and 6 percent respectively from the previous quarter. Mobile operators in Ireland have the second highest average revenue per user (ARPU) figures in Europe at EUR47 per month compared to the European average of EUR31 per month.

    The Irish public remains text happy as well, the report indicated, with 896 million SMS messages sent in Irish networks during the second quarter. This figure represents a 25 percent increase from the year-earlier figure.


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