17pc of Irish broadband users have speeds higher than 10Mbps

9 Dec 2011

ComReg has reported that total Q3 electronic communications revenues decreased marginally by 0.4pc to €957m. Total voice traffic in the quarter declined 1.3pc to below 4.4bn voice minutes

According to ComReg’s Q3 telecoms report Ireland’s total internet subscriber base stood at 1.6m subscriptions, with increases being driven by growth in the area of cable broadband (up 7.4pc), mobile broadband (1.6pc) and satellite/fibre broadband (up 12.7pc.

In relation to cable broadband, UPC today said that it reached the 250,000 subscriber milestone.

Narrowband (old-fashioned dial-up) subscriptions were down by 5,858.

Fixed broadband per capita reached 23.1pc, while the total broadband per capita penetration rate was 36.1pc.

Consumer adoption of speeds higher than 10Mbps continues with 17.1pc of all broadband subscriptions in Ireland are greater than 10Mbps, compared with 7.7pc a year ago.

Ireland now has 1.8m smartphone users

Mobile subscriptions in Ireland are now at 5.4m, up from 5.3m in the previous quarter.

Around 34.5pc of total mobile subscriptions in Q3 were active 3G users (not including mobile broadband subscriptions). This suggests that there are about 1.8m smartphone users in Ireland, including users of devices like iPad and other tablet devices with SIM cards.

Some 75pc of Irish homes now receive their TV via a digital service like cable or satellite, ComReg said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com