Republic a straggler in telecoms provision, OECD says

Irish telecoms still lag behind those in most other industrialised economies, with fewer phone lines per capita and high residential tariffs, according to a new report. The Republic is also one of the most expensive places in the world to register an Internet address, and Irish businesses buy fewer such domain names than counterparts elsewhere.

In its Communications Outlook 1999, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris says the Republic has considerably fewer access lines per 100 inhabitants than most other developed countries. With 42 lines for every 100 citizens, the Republic languishes at the bottom of the EU table, alongside Portugal and Spain. The only other OECD countries faring worse are the Czech Republic and Hungary, with 32 lines each; Turkey (28); Poland (19); and Mexico (10).

Top of the table are Sweden, Luxembourg, the US, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Canada, with more than 60 lines per 100 inhabitants. Most EU states, including France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Greece have more than 50 lines per inhabitant.

Irish residential customers still pay more for their phone service than most other Europeans, the report shows. A basket of telephone services - including line rental and calls - costs the equivalent of $433 (€409) in the Republic, but just $277 in Luxembourg, $301 in Denmark, $376 in the Netherlands and $367 in Britain. In Germany and France, at around $420, the basket was closer to the Irish price, while Portuguese and Spanish customers pay the most in the EU, at more than $660.

Business customers in the Republic fare slightly better, with the Irish basket at $910, compared to the Scandinavian countries (all below $500), Spain and Portugal at around $1,500, and France and Germany at around $980.

The Communications Outlook reveals that the Republic is by far the most expensive place in the EU to register an Internet name - typically, a company address such as www.bluesky.ie - and that Irish businesses have proportionately fewer web-sites than those in other EU countries.

To register an Irish domain name costs an average of $149, according to the report, around three times the cost of a domain name in Britain, Denmark or Austria. In Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland, the price can be less than $50 a year. Businesses registering a ".com" address will pay just $35 a year, the report says.

Perhaps partly as a result of this comparatively high cost, Irish businesses and individuals appear to maintain fewer Internet sites than people elsewhere. For every 1,000 inhabitants, the Republic has 12.6 Internet hosts, compared to 20.5 in Britain, 32.9 in the Netherlands and 99.9 in Finland.

Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium and Germany all score higher, with the Republic ranked above France, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece.