Development of Broadband in Rural and Urban Irish Areas

Broadband in Ireland is now considered one of the fastest in the world. And while this might be true for our major cities like Dublin, Cork and Galway, broadband connectivity and speed in rural Irish areas has great potential for improvement. 

For the last 19 years since the first DSL connection went live in Ireland, great lengths have been taken to increase connectivity for the greater population in rural areas. We analyse it in collaboration with Aileen O'Shea. Broadband is becoming more and more of a necessity in our day to day lives, workwise and personally.

While broadband and internet services have been in use in Ireland for many years now, and while they have improved greatly in recent years, there is still a lot of progress that needs to be made in this area in Ireland for us to be ranked next to our European counterparts. 

When internet was first introduced to Ireland it was kept very small and was used mainly by universities and large business like most countries. The telecommunications line at Trinity College Dublin was Ireland’s first internet provider and proved a brilliant asset for the university as well as the country. In June 1991 Ireland was Trinity brought Ireland into the internet era, with University College Dublin following suit a few weeks later. 

Since 1991 we have seen increasingly positive results and a gradual improvement in our broadband services in Ireland. In 2001 Ireland’s first DSL (digital subscriber line) connection went live. These connected computers to phone wires, which were installed in most Irish homes in the early 2000s. Although these worked well for many years, there were a few issues people encountered. One was when using a DSL, it meant having to unplug the phone line. You could only choose one or the other causing problems in homes for people as it was very inconvenient. Broadband was to next alternative that came along. However, it was not at the standard that we have today and is still improving to this day. 

Broadband has improved and is much more efficient and reliable today compared to when it was first installed. The south and the west of Ireland are the two areas of Ireland of Ireland that lack the fast broadband service that the rest of the country is privileged to. This is due to mountainous landscapes and valleys in the area. Homes built in these places struggle to get a fast connection if any. Up until last year we lacked a fast broadband connection as phone service was also very poor. Some areas in rural Ireland in the south still lack phone service inhibiting a good broadband connection. After many years of trying to secure good connections the Regional Authority who were responsible for delivering on the broadband issue, decided satellite broadband was a step in the right direction for rural areas in Cork and Kerry in the south. There are many advantages as well as disadvantages to this. It does not require a lot of investment meaning a lot of people can access it for relatively cheap. It is also the fastest way people in rural areas can access broadband. Many homes in rural Ireland are still being subjected to DSL as broadband connections are not good enough in their area. 

These areas of Ireland with little to no connectivity are often called blackspots. Rural Ireland has become of the biggest infrastructural projects in recent years. This includes getting rural broadband to the standard of urban areas. One of the main reasons for this, as well as the obvious household need, is the need for it in schools. Many schools in the countryside are forced to spend money unnecessarily on supplies like white boards and books as they do not have the privilege of a good broadband connection. This is a vital resource for schools and should be ensured for all children for the improvement of their education. 

While Ireland has progressed in leaps and bounds since June 1991, there is still a lot of headway to be made in this area and it seems to have been put on the back burner of the Irish government. It is an obvious statement to make that larger urban areas have faster connection and better internet services than the rest of rural Ireland. This is true for most countries across the globe. This however has led to our downfall in overall rankings. 

In 2019, Ireland 34^th out of 178 countries in a worldwide speed internet test. This is a 3-ranking improvement from the previous year. This test measures both upload and download speed in MB per second of fixed broadband in each country. This ranking puts Ireland in the top 20% in the world. This being a great achievement does not hide the many downfalls that Irish internet connectivity faces. 

This test showed individual results also showing what we need to focus on more in the future. Following the study in 2019 it shows that our download speed is significantly faster than our upload speed. This is a purposeful result as Irish people are more focused on downloading than uploading content. We currently have a download speed of 70.61mbps. This result my elate us Irish as we have a faster download speed than our neighbors in England who have a speed of 62mbps. Our mobile area is something we should be content with meaning focus should be put back on extending connection in rural areas in Ireland. 

The lack of focus on rural broadband development has many negative effects on our economy and development of it in countryside regions. Because of our low corporation tax of 12.5% many international companies like Google, Apple and Facebook have come to Ireland. But because of the lack infrastructure in rural areas, including broadband, they are slow to migrate to these rural areas. This is one of the ways in which development has been uneven in Ireland. It is obvious that the development of broadband is necessary for life to move forward in the modern world. It is needed for work, communication, education and many other aspects of life in society today. 

Delivering high-speed broadband to all parts of the country is the main priority. This is done through many state and commercial investments. The plan for improving broadband is split into initiatives. The first is the National Broadband Plan. The aim of our government for this plan is that all areas of Ireland, rural and urban, will have access to high-speed broadband, improving the working life and infrastructure of our country.  

Speed of internet is probably the most important factor that potential customers look at when choosing a broadband provider. Internet users today are looking for high-speed internet to cope with the many streaming services and social media platforms being used by the average Irish person as well as globally. Thankfully in Ireland today there are many different companies and providers offering numerous plans and packages, like Sky, Virgin Media, Vodafone and Three. This ensures that you can get the best internet connection possible in your area. 

We have also seen uneven performances regarding development of broadband, not only in rural areas but in different sectors. Ireland has had slower broadband development compared to the rest of the EU, but we have had faster development of mobile internet (80% penetration). I think in the future focus should be shifted back to broadband development in order to compete with other EU countries. The Celtic Tiger was the last time we saw a major boost in broadband development as we needed it for the increase in MNCs in the country. 

Ireland has come a long way since we first got broadband many years ago. Despite this there is still a lot that needs to improve for Irish people in regards broadband and connectivity. People lacking service and broadband in their homes today is unheard of in other countries and shouldn’t be accepted in Ireland either. In order for rural areas in our country to progress as much as our cities have we need to improve the infrastructure and raise the standard of our broadband services. Not just for businesses but for the ordinary Irish person as well. 

We analyze international broadband and HbbTV evolution (here, the case of Ireland) in this blog, in Research Group about Digital Journalism and Marketing and Broadband and in Research Group on Innovative Monetization Systems of Digital Journalism, Marketing and Tourism (SIMPED), from CECABLE,  Escola Universitària Mediterrani of UdG, UPF and Blanquerna-URL, in Twitter (@CECABLEresearch), in the group of LinkedIn, in the page of LinkedIn, in the group of Facebook, in Instagram (CECABLE), in Pinterest and in this blog. We will go in deep in the XXV Cable and Broadband Catalonia Congress (Barcelona).