Irish mobile penetration rate hits 94%

March 18, 2005 According to a quarterly report by ComReg (Commission for Communications Regulation) on the Irish telecommunications market released today, Irish mobile phone penetration has hit a new record of 94%. This is an increase of 6% from the same time last year, when penetration rates stood at 88%. The statistic means that there are now 3.78 million mobile phone subscribers in Ireland. The document also indicated that the number of broadband customers in Ireland now stands at 131,550.

Among other things the statistics revealed that:
 * 94% of Irish people own a mobile phone - up from 88% last year,
 * Vodafone has a 51% market share, down 2%,
 * O2 has a 40% market share, unchanged,
 * Meteor has a 9% market share, up 2%,


 * There are now 131,550 broadband connections, an increase of 37% in the last quarter,
 * 114,000 of these are DSL connections,
 * 8,950 of these are via Cable,
 * 8,600 of these are fixed wireless,


 * The Irish fixed, mobile and broadcasting market is now worth €4bn per annum,
 * Over 1bn text messages are now sent every quarter.

Earlier this week Eircom, the largest broadband provider in the country announced that it intends to double its standard packages speed from 512kps to 1Mbps. Also Meteor has announced that it would consider allowing a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) to piggyback on its network.