Mobile broadband, available from O2, 3 and Vodafone, is enjoying strong adoption among Irish businesses with both SMEs and larger corporate organisations relying on their laptop and broadband data card or modem for connectivity on the go.
While 16pc of SMEs now use mobile broadband, a whopping 55pc of larger organisations do so. Some 79pc of all businesses surveyed by Millward-Brown IMS on behalf of the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) between January and February 2008 said that mobile data services were useful.
Further information from the survey reveals that with the availability of more advanced, web-friendly handsets, the mobile web is also taking off. While only 15pc of SMEs said they were accessing the internet through their mobile handset in 2006, now 24pc are doing so.
It seems that narrowband or dial-up internet is also dying off with just 6pc of the 550 Irish businesses surveyed indicating usage, compared to 82pc which connected via broadband. It was not stated how, or if, the remaining 2pc accessed the internet.
While businesses have largely moved to broadband, the survey revealed many are not aware of what this entails as regards data rates and speed. Some 50pc of SMEs and 21pc of larger organisations admitted to not knowing what download speed was provided by their broadband supplier.
However, it does appear that most of the companies and organisations taking part in the survey were happy with the speed supplied to them: 87pc of SMEs and 85pc of larger businesses found their provided download speed acceptable.
By Marie Boran
