Eircom price cut sees broadband take-up recover

BROADBAND take-up was close to drying up completely before new high-speed internet access products were launched last month, according to figures released this week by Eircom.

The company’s figures showed fewer than 1,000 new broadband customers signed up during June - a rate of less than 250 per week.

Broadband take-up levels peaked at a high of 5,000 new customers per week late last year but collapsed as potential customers shunned what they perceived as high costs and unattractive packages.

The take-up rate bounced back to around 2,000 per week since the end of June following the introduction of new pricing plans, however.

Eircom said this week that 156,000 customers had signed up for broadband by August 18 - an increase of 15,000 on the total customer base at the end of June.

Eircom has cut prices on its standard broadband package for customers who signed up since July. It now charges a monthly fee of €30, which was €10 lower than its original deal. The company also introduced a new package aimed at light users that allowed 20 hours’ broadband access for €20 per month.

Other operators also cut their prices over the summer in an attempt to drive take-up. BT Ireland cut its monthly fee to €15 for new customers, while new entrant Imagine announced pricing plans that offer unlimited broadband access for €20 per month, with a €10 per month deal for a 20-hour service.

Eircom has said it remains comfortable with its target of signing up 500,000 broadband customers before 2007, but analysts have criticised this and said the target will not be achieved unless the take-up rate improves sharply.

Internet lobby group Ireland Offline said this week that it would be 2009 before take-up levels breached the 500,000 barrier.

The group said Ireland was languishing behind other developed economies and that reliance on older dial-up technology remained too high. Dial-up internet users outnumber broadband customers by around three to one in Ireland.