Telecommunications in The Republic of Ireland

Telecommunications in Ireland are regulated to a large extent by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has overall responsibility for national policy and regulation. All of Ireland's communications infrastructure is now digital but progress in broadband technology has been stagnant since 2006.

In telecommunications, the deregulated market has ensured that other licenced operators now account for a 32% share of the market.

Broadband is now available in Ireland via DSL, Cable, Wireless and Satellite. As of November 2007, according to ComReg the Irish Communications Regulator DSL is available to c. 88% of homes and businesses, however this figure is disputed my many pressure groups in Ireland as it only reflects the number of telephone lines connected to a broadband enabled exchange, not whether those lines are of a high enough quality to receive a DSL connection. Overall take-up of broadband (cable, dsl, wireless etc.) is 15.4% as of July '07 and there are 698,000 broadband subscriptions as of September ’07 The average monthly subscription cost is $40.41, 20% cheaper than the average of $49 for the 35 OECD countries surveyed.

In June 2009, there were over 1.3 million broadband connections of which mobile broadband comprised 28%.

There are four mobile telecommunications providers - 3 Ireland, O2 Ireland, Meteor and Vodafone Ireland. There are also four MNVOs (Mobile Network Virtual Operator) - 48 (Runs off the O2 Network), eMobile (Runs off the Meteor Network), Tesco Mobile (Runs off the O2 Network) and Postfone (runs off the Vodafone network). Three new MNVO's will be launched in Ireland in 2012 More Mobile (Runs off the 3 Ireland Network), Blueface (Runs off the 3 Ireland Network) and LycaMobile. UPC Ireland have also confirmed they will be launching an MVNO in the future though it is unknown as to when this entry might occur.