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Internet World Stats


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Ireland
Internet Usage Stats and Telecom Reports



Internet Usage Statistics:
3,042,600 Internet users as of June/10, 65.8% of the population, according to ITU.

Latest Population Estimate:
4,622,917 population for 2010, according to US Census Bureau.

Gross Domestic Product:
GDP per capita is US$ 48,578 according to I.M.F.

Country Size (Area):
Ireland has 70,273 sq km - Population density is 58 persons per sq km.

Internet Usage and Population Statistics:

YEAR

Users

Population

% Pop.

Usage Source

2000

784,000

3,755,300

20.9 %

ITU

2002

1,319,608

3,780,600

34.9 %

Nielsen NR

2008

2,060,000

4,156,119

49.6 %

C.I. Almanac

2010

3,042,600

4,622,917

65.8 %

ITU




Ireland Official Statistics Page
Irish Statistics from the Central Statistics Office

Search Engines and Directories
Irish Search Engines

Commission for Communications Regulation


Ireland - Country Profile

Ireland in the Wikipedia
Irish history, politics, map, geography, economy,
demography, full information and links.


Ireland in the CIA Factbook
Irish economy information, geography, government,
population, communications, military and transnational issues.


Ireland Profile by the BBC

National Competitiveness Council (NCC)
Irish economy key competitiveness issues.

Central Statistics Office Ireland (CSO)
Irish statistics on economy, people and country.


Ireland Telecommunications Market Reports

Ireland Broadband Market - Overview, Analysis & Forecasts Report
Ireland has one of the largest ICT and related services economies in Europe relative to the size of its GDP. The country’s Internet and mobile communications usage is broadly on a par with the rest of the European Union (EU), yet it has an under-developed residential and business broadband market, with poor levels of DSL and cable modem adoption compared with other European countries. Low penetration is due to high wholesale costs, lack of competition, high retail prices, limited coverage in many non-urban areas, and general low market awareness. The market slowly began to move in 2004 and 2005as the incumbent, eircom, and the regulator, ComReg, combined to diversify it. This report profiles Ireland’s fixed and wireless broadband markets in 2005 and early 2006, together with developments in related technologies such as FttH, powerline broadband, wireless broadband, WiFi and Internet via satellite.
See table of contents and summary.


Ireland - Convergence - Triple Play & Digital TV Report
The incumbent is gradually losing market share in the telephone market as cable TV companies and other providers offer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and mobile services to their traditional pay TV and broadband packages. Cable TV companies are also developing Video-on-Demand (VoD) services, and a range of media rich and interactive TV developments. Ireland has a relatively small and highly concentrated broadcasting sector. Of the 1.25 million homes passed for cable/MMDS, some 80% subscribe to digital services. There are four broadcasting transmission platforms: satellite, cable, deflector and analogue terrestrial. This report presents a comprehensive overview of all these platforms and major service providers in 2005 and looks ahead to new developments in 2006. It also notes the status of digital TV via the terrestrial, cable and satellite platforms, as well as interactive TV services.
See the report summary and table of content.


Ireland - Key Statistics, Telecom Market & Regulatory Overviews
Ireland has a small but well developed telecom market. The mobile is served by four established operators, and mobile penetration approached 100% in mid-2005. Broadband penetration is almost the lowest in the EU, but both industry and the government have made great efforts to invest in infrastructure, while the regulator has provided better access to local loops. This Paul Budde report provides statistics and research on the key sectors of the Irish telecom market in 2005, looks ahead to 2006 and presents an overview of the regulatory environment, the status of carrier preselection, the fixed network operators and services, and the telecom infrastructure.
Further details.


Ireland Mobile Market - Overview & Statistics Report
Ireland’s small mobile market underwent considerable changes in 2005. A triopoly of service providers still dominates the market, but two new 3G services have introduced a new element of competition. Vodafone and O2 retain a market lead in the face of extraordinary subscriber growth from the third player Meteor. This report provides statistics and research on the Irish mobile market in 2005 and early 2006, including the key regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, and the growth of mobile data services such as SMS, i-mode, GPRS and EDGE.
See table of contents here

Ireland Internet Usage and Broadband Update

December 2007

Internet access

The number of Irish homes with an internet connection has swelled by 74,000, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office of Ireland. The agency said in its "Information Society Statistics" for 2004 that about 537,000 homes in Ireland are connected to the net, compared to 463,000 a year ago. It also reported that 650,000 homes, or 46 percent of Irish households, now have a personal computer, a rise of 67,000 over a year ago.

Most of the statistics from the CSO indicated that the population of Ireland is continuing to accept PCs and the internet at a steady pace, although individuals who have traditionally been reluctant to take to the "Information Society" remain outside the loop. For example, the CSO said that computer usage is highest for students and persons in employment and is lowest for those aged 65 or over. Home computer ownership and internet access are higher in the Southern and Eastern regions, compared to the Border, Midlands and Western regions.

Ireland was also shown to be behind many of its neighbours in Europe, such as Denmark, where in 2003 79 percent of households had a computer and almost two-thirds had internet access. In Ireland, 42 percent of households had a computer and about one-third had internet access in 2003. Likewise, in Norway, the Netherlands, Germany and the UK, more than half of all homes had access to the internet, the CSO noted.

Still, the report was full of signs that Ireland is progressing, with virtually all businesses now using computers, the internet and e-mail. Businesses mainly use the internet to search for information, to avail of banking and financial services, and to monitor markets, the CSO said, adding that 18 percent of businesses use DSL broadband to connect, compared to 9 percent a year ago. Around 14 percent of companies use some other form of broadband, the report added.

Sales in Ireland using e-commerce account for about a quarter of industrial turnover, the Central Statistics Office added. But it tempered this figure by noting that only half of all businesses have made some purchases using e-commerce, and said that such purchases still account for a small percentage of total purchases, except in the retail and wholesale sectors, where about 8 percent of purchases are by EDI (Electronic Data Interchange).

Among the general population, the agency said that about 727,000 people use a computer every day, while about 373,000 use the internet at least once a day.


Northern Ireland Offers Broadband for All

Thursday, February 24 2005 - The final nine telephone exchanges in Northern Ireland have now been enabled with ADSL technology giving broadband availability to 98.5 percent of the region. The announcement was made by BT Northern Ireland in association with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) and the Building Sustainable Prosperity programme.

A total of 191 exchanges have been unbundled in the area since local loop unbundling began in the UK. In doing so, Northern Ireland has become the first UK region outside of London to have every one of its exchanges enabled for broadband.

A contract to provide 100 percent broadband coverage in Northern Ireland, which was to be funded under the EU Building Sustainable Prosperity programme, was awarded to BT at the end of March 2004. Prior to winning that contract, BT had enabled between 55 and 60 percent of exchanges in Northern Ireland.

Following the enablement of BT's exchanges, over 200 internet service providers and other companies will be able to use the upgraded infrastructure to deliver broadband services to customers in Northern Ireland.

Demand for broadband in Northern Ireland has increased dramatically as exchanges have gone live. In just 12 months, the region has moved from having one of the lowest levels of broadband uptake in the UK to becoming the fastest growing area. The latest industry figures show 150,000 broadband users and demand is still growing.

"Northern Ireland now has a first-class telecommunications infrastructure, allowing our businesses to compete in the global marketplace and enabling all citizens to make full use of the possibilities of the internet," said Enterprise Minister, Barry Gardiner MP. "Our goal now is to become the first region in Europe with 100 percent broadband access. Therefore, over coming months, BT will focus on providing wireless broadband infrastructure to the remaining 1.5 percent of the population that cannot access broadband via the existing BT exchanges."

The broadband situation in Northern Ireland contrasts sharply with that of the Republic where only a handful of exchanges have been enabled. "From a geographical point of view, broadband availability in Northern Ireland is now above that of Spain, France and Germany," Bill Murphy, managing director of BT Regions and CEO of Esat BT, told ElectricNews.Net. "I've been saying for a long time that there are ways of building public/private partnerships in order to push broadband coverage. What has been done in the North can also be achieved in the Republic but in order for that to happen there needs to be more government intervention."
Despite a rise in the number of broadband subscribers in the Republic in recent years following the launch of cheaper high-speed internet access services, the country still lags behind most of Europe in terms of penetration. In a Forfas report released last year, Ireland ranked an embarrassing 18 out of 21, surpassing only Hungary, the Czech Republic and Greece in terms of broadband usage. At present, fewer than 0.2 percent of Eircom's 1.6 million phone lines have been unbundled and some customers living within enabled exchange areas have been told that lines are not of sufficient quality to allow ADSL.


Small Irish Firms Urged to Embrace Information and Communication Technologies (ITC)

Tuesday, January 04 2005 - In an effort to encourage small and medium sized enterprises to optimise their usage of so-called information and communication technologies (ICTs), the Irish Minister for Trade and Commerce, Michael Ahern has announced a national e-business strategy. The announcement comes in the wake of a survey conducted by a project group led by the Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment which has highlighted the need for more sophisticated use of ICTs, particularly in the non-ICT producing sectors.

Overall this survey has revealed that computer and internet usage is widespread among Irish businesses. Seventy-five percent of Irish businesses use the internet to look for information and 65 percent conduct banking online. While 50 percent of businesses have IT systems for managing orders and purchases, only 25 percent of those companies have links between these systems and IT invoicing and payment systems. In general, the report concluded that ICT usage amongst Irish businesses is unsophisticated and poorly integrated.

"Virtually all Irish enterprises have access to computers and the internet. However, we are concerned that they are not deriving the full potential from these technologies. Businesses must now recognise this as a major competitiveness issue," said Minister Ahern in a statement.

"E-business is about applying technology to business processes to reduce costs, to improve customer value and to find new markets for products and services. A failure to recognise this will result in higher costs, missed opportunities and loss of business," warned the Minister.

The report has identified, what it considers to be, the main obstacles to more effective usage of ICTs. These include the high costs associated with ICT investment, a lack of appropriate internal IT resources and skills and a lack of awareness as to how ICTs an positively contribute to a company's success.

Broadband users top 700,000 in Ireland in 2007

Almost 84,000 new broadband subscriptions were added during the first quarter of 2007, to bring the total number of high-speed internet users in Ireland to 705,300, according to the latest quarterly report from the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The first quarter saw the highest number of new subscriptions since broadband was first launched in 2002. The latest figures also reveal that for the first time the number of broadband subscriptions exceeded 'narrowband' subscriptions in Ireland.

At the end of the first quarter, there were a total of almost 1.046 million active internet subscriptions in Ireland. Broadband now accounts for 58 percent of all connections, a penetration rate of just over 14 percent. In the first quarter of 2005, broadband accounted for just 19 percent of all internet subscriptions.

ComReg estimates that there are currently around 450,000 residential sector broadband subscriptions in Ireland. This is equivalent to 30 percent of all households, compared to 25.4 percent for the previous quarter.




Keep tuned to the Internet Stats Today Blog. More statistics, news and updates become available all the time.

››› Page updated 30 June 2010

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