Ireland 'second last on broadband'
Thursday, 14 September 2006A new report on broadband penetration puts Ireland 14th of 15 EU countries, not including the 10 new members who joined in 2004.
Denmark is top fo the league with 30% penetration, while Greece is bottom with 2%%. Ireland's penetration rate was 8%.
The report, from the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, shows overall penetration in the first quarter of this year at 14%, with the number of lines increasing by 5.5 million or 9%, in the EU. The number of lines was up 9% over the previous quarter.
The ECTA, which represents rival companies to former State-owned incumbents such as Eircom and BT, said the gap between the best and worst performers was growing.
Telecoms lobby group Ireland Offline that although Ireland's growth rate for the last quarter was 19%, penetration was the key indicator and Ireland looked as if it would 'lose the broadband battle'.
