Broadband subscriptions rise in second quarter

The number of broadband subscriptions in Ireland rose in the second quarter of the year, the latest report from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) said.

The report, which tracks developments in the telecoms industry in the three months to June, said subscriptions rose by 0.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2012.

Around 65 per cent of Irish households have access to broadband, both fixed and mobile, ComReg said. Fixed broadband speeds are on the rise, with 37.5 per cent of subscriptions at speeds of equal to or more than 30mbps, with almost 30 per cent breaching the 30mbps threshold.

Comreg said the number of text messages being sent in Ireland declined by 22 per cent in the year to the end of June, with the availability of free messaging services such as Viber, Facebook, WhatsApp and Snapchat a likely driver of the fall.

Some 2.44 billion texts were sent in the second quarter of the year, down by 9 per cent on the first three months of 2013. The number of multimedia messages sent was 8.2 per cent higher on a quarterly basis but down 3.5 per cent on the same quarter last year.

The report also noted Irish mobile users are spending less on their mobile phone bills, with average revenue per user at €27, down from €29 a year earlier. Mobile data revenues were on the rise during the three-month period, ComReg noted.

Ireland’s mobile penetration rate for the quarter was 118.3 per cent.

ComReg has also begun to publish information on Machine to Machine (M2M) communications, such as traffic lights, alarm systems, ATM machines and vehicle and consignment tracking, which accounted for 6.3 per cent of all mobile subscriptions.

For the quarter, total electronic communications revenues were €896.1 million, a fall of 4.6 per cent compared with the second quarter in 2012.