The Commission for Communications Regulation released its quarterly report last week, and it shows some very exciting data about the internet in Ireland. The biggest takeaway is that there has been a big increase in fixed broadband subscriptions across Ireland, and the Irish are talking on the phone less.
First up is some interesting data on overall usage – the average broadband home consumer used 329.9GB a month in data – a 4.3% increase over the previous year. The average business customer used 149.7GB a month in data – a massive 8.2% increase over the previous year. Makes sense when so many people have been working from home and consuming more hours of Netflix than they’d probably like to admit!
The data released by ComReg also shows that broadband speeds are improving across Ireland. 86.2% of broadband households now have speeds that are 30Mbps or greater, with 48.3% having speeds equal to or greater than 100Mbps. This makes streaming online video and doing Zoom calls a breeze!
It’s also interesting to see the growing availability of fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) in Ireland with 340k subscriptions – representing 21.8% of broadband all broadband subscriptions. This will only increase as NBI and SIRO roll out new fibre in the coming years (and we sell both!).
Also, when you combine fixed broadband with wireless broadband, according to Eurostat – Ireland’s household broadband penetration rate (including fixed and mobile broadband) in 2020 was at 92%, which is higher than the EU average of 89%.
One of the most interesting takeaways in the report is that the Irish are talking on the phone a lot less lately – with them averaging 215 minutes on the phone a month – a -3.1% annual decrease. Though this could just mean we’re Facetiming and Zooming more than just talking on the phone.
You can read more of this fascinating report on the ComReg website here.
