TELECOMS & MOBILE
Eircom loses ground to rivals
14-02-2008
by Charlie Taylor
While Eircom remains the most popular provider of internet services to Irish households, its share of the market has plummeted, new figures show.
The latest Trends Series Survey into telecoms services usage in Ireland from ComReg indicates that Eircom's share of the home internet market declined in 2007 while BT Ireland, Irish Broadband, Perlico and ClearWire all made substantial gains.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, Eircom's internet packages were used by 57 percent of home internet users, down 21 percent from the 78 percent of households who subscribed to its services in the final quarter of 2006.
During the same period, Irish Broadband's share of the home internet market doubled from 4 percent to 8 percent to make it the second most popular provider in Ireland.
BT Ireland's share of the market more than doubled over the year from 3 percent to 7 percent while Perlico saw its share rise from 3 percent to 6 percent. UPC (formerly NTL/Chorus) saw slight growth from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the final quarter of last year, gaining 1 percent to give it a 3 percent share of the home internet market while Clearwire came out of nowhere to gain the same percentage of users.
According to ComReg's survey, which was conducted by Millward Brown IMS, Eircom's market share has been particularly hit in Dublin.
The study reveals that just 40 percent of home internet users in the capital subscribed to Eircom services at the end of December 2007. Irish Broadband, meanwhile, was found to have a 17 percent share of the market in Dublin.
A spokesperson for Eircom told ENN that the company wasn't overly concerned by the survey findings.
"We're still signing up between 3,000 and 4,000 customers a week, which is the bulk of customers. I think the survey shows that there is competition in the marketplace but that Eircom is working hard to maintain its lead position and if you look at the comparisons we're still over 50 percent bigger than any of our rivals," the spokesperson said.
ComReg's study shows that internet usage is now at its highest rate ever, with 54 percent of the population going online by the end of the fourth quarter of 2007, up 7 percent year-on-year.
While the number of individuals accessing the internet at work remains largely unchanged, home internet usage rose 12 percent during the year to the end of December. Approximately 48 percent of respondents to ComReg's survey said they went online from home.
Over half (52 percent) of home internet users currently have a DSL broadband connection, while 13 percent still have a narrowband or dial-up connection. The study shows an increase in the number of internet users who are using wireless connection -- with as many as 18 percent of households now going online via a Wi-Fi hotspot, a wireless modem supplied by a mobile firm or some other access technology.
Despite the hype surrounding VoIP over the past few years, it seems that Irish people have yet to fall in love with the technology. The report indicates that just 30 percent of survey respondents had made a call over the internet during the last three months of 2007.
Mobile phone ownership among residential consumers reached 90 percent at the end of December. However, while the number of households using a landline has declined, the decline is less than many analysts would have predicted due to the increasing popularity of bundled packages which include fixed line calls.
As many as 52 percent of respondents who have a fixed line in their home subscribe to some form of bundled service. The most popular bundle is one which includes fixed line calls, line rental and internet access.
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