ISME, the small business lobby group, believes the small business sector is ‘being sabotaged’ due to a lack of broadband, at a reasonable cost. Consequently it believes that Irish business is being disadvantaged, in comparison to their international competitors, due to the absence of what should be a readily available and necessary business tool.
It blamed the Eircom stranglehold on broadband services as being at the root of the problem, where over 20% of small and medium-sized businesses have difficulty getting broadband. According to ISME chief executive Mark Fielding, it is estimated that broadband access in Ireland is approximately 62% in comparison to an average 88% in the EU.
He also pointed to the fact that UK and the Northern Ireland have 100% broadband access. Businesses, lucky enough to have access to broadband, are paying through the teeth for the privilege of using a service that most other Europeans take for granted. According to Comreg, Ireland has the highest monthly line rental figure of 19 EU countries and the OECD has also outlined that Ireland comes 27th out of 30 for value for money. It is quite obvious, that because of Eircom’s dominant stranglehold position there is no incentive for them to improve the service.
Other European countries are continuing to heavily innovate and invest in broadband infrastructure, while still offering superior packages at lower prices.
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