Growth of tablets and smartphones drives Wi-Fi surge – ComReg

Despite a decline in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots in Ireland, a 60pc increase in the use of Wi-Fi minutes in the fourth quarter of 2011 reflects growth in the number of tablets and smartphones in the country, ComReg reported in its quarterly survey.

ComReg reported that 42.7pc of all mobile subscriptions in Ireland were active smartphone or tablet users in the fourth quarter, up from 37.8pc the previous quarter.

Overall total telecoms industry revenues were down on the previous quarter by a marginal 0.5pc to €952.7m.

Total fixed and mobile voice traffic also declined by 0.2pc to 4.3bn voice minutes.

Mobile voice traffic was up by 0.5pc while fixed voice traffic was down by 1.4pc.

Internet subscriptions in Ireland stood at 1.68m at the end of the quarter driven by increases in cable (5.8pc), fibre/satellite (5.2pc) and DSL (0.4pc). Mobile broadband growth was flat during the quarter.

Fixed broadband per capita penetration stood at 23.4pc while total broadband per capita if you include mobile broadband stood at 36.3pc).

The regulator said that consumer adoption of higher (advertised) broadband speeds continues with 18.7pc of all broadband subscriptions now in the greater than 10Mbps category. The highest proportion of these users are using cable broadband.

Total mobile subscriptions in Ireland stood at 5.49m, up from 5.47m in the previous quarter.

According to ComReg 76pc of TV homes in Ireland receive a digital TV service. Only 3pc of Irish TV homes use digital terrestrial TV at present, a figure that may change dramatically when digital switchover occurs on 24 October next.