Lack of effective competition in Ireland has hampered growth in broadband penetration, according to European competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes.
Reflecting Ireland's poor showing on broadband penetration tables, the Commissioner used Ireland as an example as she announced the Commission's intention to support government aid for broadband projects in ten countries, especially in low-population rural areas.
Around 75 million homes in the 27-country European Union now use broadband.
Speaking at a conference today called 'Bridging the Broadband Gap' Neelie Kroes said: 'We can only guess what the number would be if we had not moved away from state telecoms monopolies, but we know that the number would be much, much lower.'
Kroes added that the role of government aid to help spread broadband must be limited.
She said governments around Europe can pay to support the technology only in special circumstances when so-called 'state aid' is permitted under EU rules.
Kroes said such aid was appropriate in low-population rural areas and that it made sense in areas where a lack of effective competition had hampered growth, using Greece and areas of Ireland as examples.
However, she said that where broadband already existed through two competing means, telephone lines and cable TV, government had no business intervening.
The EU's executive Commission has approved 25 broadband projects in ten countries.
