Some 52pc of Irish telecom customers who have fixed lines in their homes are now opting for some form of bundled service, with the most common bundle including fixed line calls, line rental and internet access.
According to the latest in a trends series survey on behalf of ComReg by Millward Brown IMS, mobile phone ownership amongst residential consumers hit 90pc, out of which 76pc use prepaid mobile services.
Prepaid mobile phone use is higher amongst 15-24 year olds (89pc) and those with no fixed line at home (82pc).
Over 54pc of residential users surveyed claim to be able to use the internet from any location, while 48pc claim to have a home internet connection. Of the latter, 68pc say they now use broadband.
According to the ComReg survey, DSL is the most widely used broadband access technology amongst home internet users (52pc).
However, there is evidence of increased use of wireless technologies for broadband connections such as mobile broadband and fixed wireless access (FWA).
The survey found the main reasons for internet usage include sending and receiving email and researching and booking holidays and travel.
Online banking and shopping online were cited amongst 25-49 year olds, while those aged between 15 and 24 spent most of their online time downloading music, visiting social networking sites and playing online games.
By John Kennedy
