Monday, October 18th saw Communications Minister, Eamon Ryan welcome Cisco’s third annual broadband study results which place Ireland 13th of 72 countries worldwide for broadband leadership. Ireland has moved up 3 places from its place at 16 in last year’s study.
In the broadband leadership ranks, Ireland’s move to 13th place sees it come in ahead of France, Canada, the United States and the UK among others. Ireland is also grouped amongst the top ten ‘broadband movers’ since 2009 with an 88% broadband penetration, an 11% increase on the previous year.
The study was carried out on behalf of Cisco Systems Inc. by Saïd Business School at Oxford University and further found that worldwide broadband quality has increased 48% in the last two years.
Minister Ryan commented on the good news, saying: “This improvement is a reflection of the Government’s progressive broadband policy, which encourages collaboration as well as competition. In two years, €1.5 billion of public and private monies have been invested in our broadband networks and services. Broadband subscriptions have more than doubled from 600,000 to 1.5 million.
“Service providers here are already beginning to deliver the 100 megabit connections in 2010 that Europe is seeking for 2020. On access, we are two years ahead of the EU’s target for nationwide availability, with the National Broadband Scheme nearing completion. With ongoing investment in our networks and improvements in quality, speed and availability, we are significantly progressing. I look forward to working with the service providers, public bodies and the regulator in the months ahead, to further this progress.”
The increase in Ireland’s broadband penetration came as a result of the Government’s National Broadband Scheme. Nearing completion the scheme looked to deliver broadband to every region in Ireland. The upcoming Rural Broadband Scheme will target the remaining 12,000 or so premises, which for technical and geographical reasons, do not have access to broadband. When both Schemes are complete, every premise in Ireland will have access to broadband services.
