The Irish communications market continues expand with the sector representing three per cent of the Gross National Product, according to a report released today by the Office of the Director of Telecommunications Regulation (ODTR).
The report, which covers the period January 1st to March 31st, 2001, also shows that new entrants to the fixed line market is now at 20 per cent. However there is also evidence that when benchmarked against other European countries, Ireland’s position fell slightly over the past 12 months.
Total revenues for fixed, mobile and broadcasting markets have increased to £2.5 billion per annum with fixed line revenue accounting for approximately 67 per cent of total telecommunications revenue.
Speaking at the launch of the report, Ms Etain Doyle, Director of Telecommunications Regulation, said that while she was pleased with the results, Ireland could not become complacent.
"While I am pleased to see that the sector continues to expand and consumers in general continue to benefit from liberalisation, Ireland needs to keep the pressure on," Ms Doyle said. "If we do not continue to progress we will fall behind."
The ODTR also commissioned Irish Marketing Surveys to examine the attitudes of large companies to the provision of broadband services in Ireland.
200 interviews were conducted during May 2001. Two thirds of the companies were Irish owned with the balance mainly from the UK and USA but located in Ireland. 75 per cent of the companies had over 100 employees.
Results show that:
- the majority in the market believe it is well served by telecommunications services and believe the market for telecommunications including broadband is more competitive than it was twelve months ago.
- 71 per cent indicate that they intend to expand their broadband usage in the next 12 months.
- 33 per cent indicated they had difficulties accessing broadband services and of these 36 per cent indicated that this would influence their location decisions.
- 70 per cent of those surveyed said alternative suppliers had approached them but only 13 per cent have actually switched supplier.
Over half of the respondents believe the competitiveness of broadband communications had improved in the past twelve months and 53 per cent believed Ireland is well placed to be an e-commerce hub for Europe.
The report also revealed that only 32 per cent of the population had home Internet access at the end of April 2001. According to Nielsen Net Ratings Irish Home users spent an average of 4hrs 20 minutes online in April 2001.