Smartphone use in Republic hits record high of 59%

Smartphone penetration reached a record 59 per cent of the Irish mobile subscriber market in the second quarter of this year, according to telecoms regulator Comreg.

This represented a 14.7 per cent jump on the previous quarter and reflects the huge surge in smartphone use here and elsewhere.

With the rise in smartphones comes an increase in data volumes, which rose by 53.9 per cent in the year to the end of June to reach 15,724 terabytes - one terabyte being equal to 1,000 gigabytes.

In its latest quarterly report on the Irish electronic communications market, Comreg says there were 5.6 million mobile phone subscriptions at the end of June, up 0.1 per centon the previous quarter

This gave rise to a mobile penetration rate for the quarter of 122 per cent.

The total number of text messages sent by mobile users in Ireland was over 1.88 billion in the second quarter, down 23.2 per cent on a quarterly basis.The number of multimedia messages sent was down 6.1 per cent on the previous quarter.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) was €25 per month, down from €27 on the previous quarter.

Comreg attributed the decline in ARPU to cheaper mobile phone plans and increased sales of bundled products.

Comreg indicated the Irish broadband penetration rate in terms of household fixed and mobile contracts was 67 per cent at the end of June.