Despite the number of broadband subscribers here jumping to 175,500 in the second quarter of 2005 from 63,600 the same time last year, Ireland still ranks only 25th out of 32 countries surveyed.
Forfas today published its 'Benchmarking Ireland's Broadband Performance' report, which assesses the country's competitiveness in terns of broadband availability, take-up, quality and choice.
Although the number of broadband subscribers has increased substantially, Forfas says that Ireland's relative broadband take-up performance has not improved.
Speaking at the launch of today's report, Forfas CEO Martin Cronin says broadband take-up in other countries is also growing and as a result, Ireland's relative performance has not improved.
He says that greater competition between infrastructure platforms - like cable and DSL - and within the DSL market, as well as initiatives to drive demand have emerged as the key factors driving broadband take-up in other countries.
'To bring about the changes needed to improve Ireland's broadband performance requires the engagement of all stakeholders from Government, the telecommunications industry and broadband users,' Mr Cronin says.
Today's survey also shows that Ireland is currently ranked 7th cheapest of 32 countries benchmarked for the provision of broadband with the cost of entry level DSL decreasing significantly since the service was introduced in 2002.
DSL coverage in Ireland - based on population - stands at 72%, making it the second lowest of the EU states. A broadband innovation index performance across the benchmark countries ranks Ireland 21% of the 30 countries on this indicator.
In terms of broadband take-up by SMEs, Ireland ranks 17th out of 20 countries for take-up by firms with a workforce of between 10-49 people and 19th out of 20 for take-up by firms with a workforce of 50 to 249 people.
