Broadband penetration of market now 36.1%

The latest report from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) shows revenues fell across most parts of the Irish telecommunications market over the second quarter of the year.

Total revenues came in at just over €930m for the three months, which is a 0.3% decrease from the first quarter of the year. “Total voice traffic (fixed and mobile) declined by 1.8% to approximately 4.26 billion voice minutes this quarter. While mobile voice traffic increased by 0.6%, fixed voice traffic declined by 5.9%.

Although total broadband subscriptions (1,654,157) rose by 1.6% in the year to Q2, 2012 total broadband subscriptions declined by 0.7% since last quarter. A rise in cable (+4.0%) and fibre/satellite (+5.8%) subscriptions did not offset falls in DSL (-0.9%), FWA (-5.8%), and dedicated active mobile broadband subscriptions (-2.2%),” ComReg said in a statement.

The total broadband penetration of the Irish market, which includes mobile broadband, was 36.1%. The fixed broadband level was 23.6%.

Consumer adoption of higher advertised broadband speeds continued, with 19.9% of all broadband subscriptions now in the greater than 10 mega bits per second category, compared to 12.5% one year previously.

The highest proportion of customers in the greater than 10Mbps category are using cable broadband, ComReg said.

WiFi hotspots and access points have increased by 10.9% and 7.0% respectively. WiFi minutes of use were just under 100 million in the quarter, an increase of 51.4% comparing Q2 2011 to Q2 2012.

Mobile subscriptions, including mobile broadband, stood at 5,490,261, down from 5,521,348 in the previous quarter.