Eurostat figures show 72% of households have Internet access

Life

New figures from EU body Eurostat released today have claimed that 72% of Irish households have access to the Internet.

For broadband connections, however, Ireland is now at 58% of households, three points lower than the EU average.

Commenting on the figures, Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan said: “In examining Ireland’s broadband story, we must look at the official figures… In the last three years, over €1.5 billion of public and private monies have been invested in our broadband networks. We have gone from 600,000 subscribers in 2007, to over 1.5 million.

The Government’s €223 million National Broadband Scheme has made broadband available to over 99% of the Irish population. We are now at near to universal coverage. A new Rural Broadband Scheme will guarantee we will get to the final less than 1% by the end of 2012.”

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