Ireland falls behind three new EU members in take-up of broadband

IRELAND has the second lowest take-up of broadband in the EU 15 and has fallen behind three of the European Union’s new member states according to the latest figures.

Ireland Offline, the telecoms lobby body, blamed the lack of competition in the marketplace for the poor showing and warned that the country was in real danger of losing the broadband battle.

Just 8% of the population has broadband compared with the European leader, Denmark, where the figures are close to 30%. Estonia has almost double the Irish rate while Malta and Slovenia are also well ahead. Greece is last at 2%.