Companies applaud more comms competition


4 Oct 2005

A survey by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) claims that more than eight out of 10 large corporates and SMEs in Ireland (86pc) believe the indigenous telecoms market has become more competitive in the past 12 months.

In apparent support of this, over a quarter of all SMEs (27pc) changed their fixed-line phone provider in the first half of this year, ComReg found. This is an increase on 16pc of small businesses that did so last year.

Respondents said the prospect of saving money was the main reason for switching fixed or mobile telecoms suppliers. Businesses also believe they get more value for money from fixed-line services than from mobile providers. Some of those surveyed said they were not happy with aspects of their mobile services, including roaming costs, charges for calling fixed lines from a mobile and the cost of calls to mobile numbers on a different network.

More than 50pc of Irish companies with internet access have moved to broadband, the survey found. Just under half of SMEs have broadband, a 21pc increase on last year. The survey also found high awareness of voice over internet protocol. As yet, usage of this technology is low but interest in it is “reasonably high” among corporates, ComReg found.

For its latest six-monthly survey, ComReg polled 50 large corporates and 500 SMEs to gauge their telecommunications needs and gauge their attitudes to fixed, mobile and internet access.

By Gordon Smith