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Ireland is the broadband equivalent of Newcastle United, a new ‘State of the Net’ report from the Irish Internet Association (IIA) suggests: much has been promised but little has been delivered.

The report, which coincides with the IIA’s annual conference, points to Ireland’s uncomfortable position in the bottom quarter of 30 countries tracked in the OECD’s broadband league table. Ireland’s score of 6.7 connections per 100 of population compares with an OECD average of 11.7 and an EU average of 11.8. It warns that this threat poses competitive problems for Ireland Inc and for businesses as well as frustrations for Irish users.

Despite evidence of Irish people swarming to online services such as buying tickets from Ryanair and paying their motor tax online, the report drew attention to the possibility of a digital divide emerging in Ireland between the technology ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. Figures from the Central Statistics Office revealed that internet access in the southern and eastern parts of Ireland stood at 47.3pc, compared with 38.8pc for the border, midland and western areas.

In terms of mobile usage, 2pc of the Irish population now have more than one mobile connection and overall the country has a penetration rate of 102pc. Sophisticated mobile nations like Luxembourg has a whopping 147pc mobile penetration rate, followed by Sweden at 109pc.

Only 14pc of Irish people bought something online in the previous three months compared with 36pc in the UK and Sweden. Travel and accommodation are at the top of the Irish web shopper’s list followed by music, film and tickets. In 2003, 76,000 people said that they bought travel and accommodation online but by 2005 that figure had risen to 318,000.

The number of .ie domains is nudging towards 60,000, more than three times what it was at the height of the dotcom boom in the late Nineties. In terms of .eu domains, some 23.9pc of .eu domains were registered by Irish entities from a total of 1.7 million .eu registrations.

Online advertising in Ireland, according to figures from the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland, shows a rate card spend of €6.7m, just 1.5pc of the overall advertising cake of €440m.

In terms of e-government activity, the IIA’s ‘State of the Net’ report points to evidence that Ireland is still behind other countries in the e-government stakes. At least two reports — one from Eurostat and another from Accenture — place Ireland in 13th position out of 22 countries surveyed.

The report was unveiled this morning at the IIA Congress in Dublin before 260 delegates. This year the IIA Congress was completely sold out. One ticket placed on eBay by the IIA sold for more than €370, with the proceeds going to charity.

Autor/Author: John Kennedy

Quelle/Source: Siliconrepublic, 25.05.2006