Irish surfers pay twice as much for broadband

Bad news, Irish buddies. A new study has shown that consumers in Ireland pay almost double the EU average for their broadband service.

The European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index was released last week and the report, which analyses digital credentials of EU countries, noted that Irish households are paying almost twice the EU average for broadband access. Only five other European countries pay more for their connection – Cyprus, Spain, Croatia, Portugal and Romania.

Ireland ranked 16th overall out of 28 EU member states, putting the country firmly in the medium performance band, on par with the likes of Germany, France and Spain. However, statistics show that the take-up of fixed broadband in the country sits at just 62 per cent – lower than the EU average of 70 per cent – despite 96 per cent of the country having access to the technology.

While facing larger-than-average broadband bills is likely a source of frustration for Irish ‘net users, the country can at least hold its head high for the quality of broadband on offer.

According to Akemai’s metrics, the country currently ranks 8th in the world for average broadband speeds, which sits at 12.7Mbps. That figure has risen 24 per cent over the last year.

Only Latvia, Sweden, The Netherlands and Switzerland rank higher within the EU.

The EC’s report also provided a window into how the Irish use their web connections, with music, video and gaming taking up most people’s online time. But while the country’s overall consumption of video-on-demand services is still among the highest on the continent, use of VOD services dropped by two per cent over the last year.