Broadband ‘among most expensive’

IRELAND is one of the most expensive countries in Europe for entry-level broadband.

At an average of €13.19 a month Ireland is ahead of countries such as Sweden (€7.82), Denmark (8.06), Switzerland (€9.09), France (€11.87) and Italy (€12.79) for the price of entry-level broadband.

A report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that broadband users in 30 of the world’s most developed countries are getting greatly differing speeds and prices.

“Broadband is very quickly becoming the basic medium for service delivery on both fixed and wireless networks,” said the report.

Jupiter Research telecoms analyst Ian Fogg said the entry price for broadband was an incredibly important criteria to compare.

“Because the market is very fragmented consumers care about cheap prices.”

The least expensive monthly subscription for always-on broadband was in Sweden, where €7.82 bought a 256kbps connection.

The country with the most expensive entry point for broadband access was Mexico, where it cost €38 for 1Mbps.

The OECD report also said that the .ie domain name now sees an annual growth of over 26% and last year 63,933 registered for take-up, compared to 40,205 in 2004.