Broadband progress slow - OECD
Monday, 5 November 2007 18:52The OECD says Ireland's broadband performance has improved only slightly in the last year. The organisation's annual broadband statistics look at the trends in more than 30 countries.
The figures show Ireland recorded the largest number of new broadband subscribers, per capita, in the year to the end of June. The so-called penetration rate grew by 6.6 percentage points in that time. Almost 15.5% of the population now has broadband access.
Dimitri Ypsilanti of the OECD's technology directorate says the latest data show Ireland at 22nd of 30 countries when it comes to broadband provision, compared with 23rd place last year.
The average monthly charge is just under €28 but download speeds still lag behind most other countries. Speed is seen as the next key issue facing service providers. According to today's figures we have an average 'advertised speed' of three megabits per second, putting Ireland third from bottom, ahead only of Turkey and Mexico. By contrast, Japanese broadband users can download information from the internet over 30 times more quickly.
Mr Ypsilanti says new entrants are still needed in the broadband market. He welcomed efforts to supply more fixed wireless connections to provide a service in areas with no provision. He also says it is unfortunate that cable providers have not done more to roll out broadband in recent years.
