Broadband use doubles but Ireland still behind

Ireland's take-up of broadband technology has more than doubled in the past 12 months but the State lags behind other countries in terms of overall connectivity, according to a Forfás study.

The Benchmarking Ireland's Broadband Performance released today shows broadband take-up grew from 63,600 subscribers in the second quarter of 2004 to 175,500 in the same period of 2005.

The report attributes the rise to a "further decline in prices and continued progress on the rollout of the Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) and the County and Group Broadband Schemes."

However Ireland is still ranked only 25th out of the 32 countries for broadband take-up.

When the comparator group is limited to the 21 countries benchmarked in the 2004 study, Ireland's position has actually deteriorated, from 18th out of 21 in 2004 to 19th out of 21 in 2005.

The study found digital subscriber line (DSL) coverage in Ireland, which is based on population, stands at 72 per cent which is the second lowest of the original 15 EU member states.

Forfás chief executive Martin Cronin said: "Although broadband take-up in Ireland is increasing, take-up in other countries is also growing and as a result Ireland's relative performance has not improved."

Mr Cronin said: "Broadband is of key strategic importance to economic growth in all sectors and particularly with respect to improving Ireland's productivity performance."

"In light of this, continued poor broadband performance will have serious implications for our future economic success and competitiveness," he added.