Telecommunications in Ireland operate in a regulated competitive market that provides customers with a wide array of advanced digital services. This article explores Ireland's telecommunications infrastructure including: fixed and mobile networks, voice, data and Internet services, cable television, developments in next generation networks and broadcast networks for radio and television.
Regulation
Telecommunications, including radio frequency spectrum licensing and the postal sector, are regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). ComReg was established on 1 December 2002. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) (Irish: Údarás Craolacháin na hÉireann) is the regulator of both public and commercial broadcasting sector in Ireland. It was established on 1 October 2009, replacing the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) (Irish:
The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has overall responsibility for national policy and regulation of both telecommunications and broadcasting.
The telecommunications market in Ireland was opened to competition in 1998. In 2007 licensed operators other than Eircom, the former state-owned monopoly, accounted for 32% of the market. By June 2011 this figure had risen to 41% of fixed line revenue. Eircom remains the largest telecommunications company in Ireland, offering fixed, mobile, and broadband services. As Bord Telecom Éireann, the company was state owned until 1999, when it was floated on the Irish and New York Stock Exchanges.
Infrastructure
Ireland's telecommunications network is a modern digital system connected by an extensive national fibre optic network with multiple high capacity fibre optic links to the UK, Continental Europe, North America and with dedicated capacity on routes to Asia and other parts of the globe. There is an open and competitive telecommunications market regulated by ComReg. However, the fixed-line market is still dominated by the incumbent operator, Eircom.
Several companies operate national fibre optic networks including eircom, BT Ireland, ESB Group and UPC Ireland. Eircom's fibre network is the most extensive covering most parts of the country with 12,000Â km of fibre routes (>40,000Â km of fibres) Eircom's Next Generation Network upgrade rolled out Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) which is capable of delivering up to 320 Gbit/s along a single fibre route. This upgrade also sees eircom's core infrastructure moving to an all-IP network. It has major aggregation nodes at 140 locations around Ireland and onward fibre connections to another 470 central office sites.
Ireland also has major connections to multiple international fibre optic networks, an example of which is Hibernia Atlantic.
94 Irish towns and cities also have access to publicly owned, carrier-neutral metropolitan fibre networks managed by e|net. These networks can be used by any licensed Irish telecommunications operator to provide commercial or residential end users with products.
For residential and small business providers, most major urban areas have access to UPC Ireland's HFC network which provides speeds of up to 200Mbit/s using EuroDOCSIS 3.0 cable modem technology.
Eircom wholesale is also in the process of rolling out FTTC which provides speeds of up to 100Mbit/s down and 20Mbit/s up. The system uses VDSL2 and vectoring between the FTTC cabinet and the end user. Retail services using this next generation access infrastructure are provided by approximately 15 operators.
Ireland has four mobile networks that own and operate their own network infrastructure and a number of MVNO operators that operate mobile phone services using one of these infrastructure providers' radio networks. The four infrastructure owning networks are:
- Networks providing 2G GSM and 3G UMTS: Vodafone Ireland â€" Wholly owned by Vodafone Group, O2 Ireland â€" Part of Telefónica, Meteor / E Mobile â€" Part of the eircom group
- Network providing 3G UMTS only: 3 Ireland â€" Hutchison Whampoa Group.
Meteor/eMobile were the first to launch 4G LTE services in Ireland on 26 September 2013, followed by Vodafone on 14 October 2013, and Three on 27 January 2014. O2 is due to launch its 4G services later in 2014.
Telephone system
- Fixed telephone lines in use 1,168,591 (Q4 2012, ComStat)
- Mobile cellular telephones: 5,460,507 (Q4 2012, ComStat)
- Country code: 353
As mobile phone services become more price competitive, more Irish customers are opting to drop landline services. This is reflected by a sharp fall in the number of fixed line channels in use and an equivalent increase in mobile subscriptions. Details are tracked on ComReg's ComStat website
There are four mobile telecommunications providers: 3 Ireland, O2 Ireland, Meteor (Eircom), and Vodafone Ireland. Hutchinson 3G are currently negotiating with Ireland and EU regulators on whether their proposed takeover of O2 Ireland can proceed, as planned by their €850M takeover deal.
There are also six MNVOs (Mobile Network Virtual Operator): 48 (runs off the O2 Network), eMobile (runs off the Meteor network), Tesco Mobile (runs off the O2 Network), Lycamobile (runs off the O2 Network), Blueface (runs off the 3 Ireland network) and Postfone (runs off the Vodafone network). UPC Ireland has confirmed that they will be launching an MVNO in the future, though it is unknown when this entry might occur.
History
The original network was taken over by the Irish Department of Posts and Telegraphs (P&T) from the British Post Office in 1921 and used a mixture of manual and step-by-step automatic exchanges. Development of the network was relatively stagnant with slow rollout of automatic switching using step-by-step exchanges until after WWII. From 1957 onwards, P&T began to rollout more modern crossbar switchs using equipment supplied by Ericsson built at their Athlone facility. This saw significant improvements to many services, but the network was still quite underdeveloped in rural areas. Digital switching was introduced in 1980 using Ericsson AXE and Alcatel E10 switches both of which were manufactured at facilities in Ireland. This saw a total transformation of the telephone network with modern automatic and digital services reaching even the most rural parts of Ireland by the mid 1980s. The fixed line network is now made up of multiple operators using a diverse range of digital technologies including VoIP.
Ireland's first mobile telephone network, Eircell went live in 1986 using the analogue TACS system. 2G GSM services from Eircell launched on 1 July 1993. Digifone followed in 1997, then Meteor in 2001 (having been licenced in 1998) and 3 Ireland launched its UMTS 3G-only service in 2005.
3G services launched in 2004 (Vodafone Ireland) and other networks quickly followed suit. and 4G launched in 2013 (Meteor) and is now available on most networks.
Internet
- Internet users: 3.6 million, 77% of the population, 70th in the world (2011); 3.0 million, 67th in the world (2009)
- Dial-up subscriptions: 11 437 (Q4 2012 ComStat)
- Fixed broadband subscriptions: 1,666,645 (Q4 2012 ComStat)
- Mobile broadband subscriptions: 554,563 Q4 2012 ComStat)
- Internet hosts: 1.4 million, 40th in the world (2012)
- Internet censorship: Little or none (2011)
- Top-level domain name: .ie
Broadband Internet access is available in Ireland via DSL, cable, wireless, and satellite. By the end of 2011 Eircom announced that 75% of its working lines would be connected to Next Generation Broadband (NGB) enabled exchanges.
Currently available services (Q3 2014)
- ADSL - up to 24Mbit/s - (several providers and unbundled services are available.)
- FTTC - VDSL up to 100Mbit/s down 20 Mbit/s up (several providers - vectoring technology is used)
- Cable - Speeds of up to 200Mbit/s - Main provider UPC Ireland
- Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) - various technologies in use - mostly used in rural areas.
- Mobile broadband - UMTS (3G) and LTE (4G) services are available from several providers.
A typical monthly broadband Internet subscription cost $26.02 in 2011, 14% less than the average of $30.16 for the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries surveyed.
In August 2012 Pat Rabbitte, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, outlined a national broadband plan with goals of:
- 70â€"100 Mbit/s broadband service available to at least 50 per cent of the population,
- at least 40 Mbit/s available to at least a further 20 per cent, and
- a minimum of 30 Mbit/s available to everyone, no matter how rural or remote.
Founded in 1996, the Internet Neutral Exchange (INEX) is an industry-owned association that provides IP peering and traffic exchange for its members in Ireland. The INEX switching centres are located in four secure data centres in Dublin: TeleCity Group in Kilcarbery Park, Dublin 22 & TeleCity Group in Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24 and Interxion DUB1, and Interxion DUB2 in Park West. The switches are connected by dedicated resilient fibre links. In March 2013 it listed 57 full and 18 associate members.
Established in 1998, the Internet Service Providers Association of Ireland (ISPAI) listed 24 Internet access and hosting providers as members in 2012.
Radio and television
Infrastructure
Television in Ireland is broadcast using DVB-T using the common platform specifications defined by NorDig which apply in the Nordic countries and Ireland. Video is encoded using the MPEG4 system. The analogue PAL-I broadcasting system is no longer on air.
Cable systems operate using the DVB-C standard and Satellite is broadcast using DVB-S/S2. Some areas still carry a range of cable channels in analogue PAL-I format. Although, this is normally just a legacy service provided by default. It is not possible to subscribe to analogue cable as a new customer.
Radio is broadcast primarily using FM 88-108 MHz. Digital DAB Radio is also available in some areas. RTÉ Radio 1 is also broadcast on Longwave 252 kHz (AM) Mediumwave services have been discontinued.
2RN operates a national FM network and DAB services. However, most independent FM stations own their own broadcasting infrastructure.
Raidió TeilifÃs Éireann (Irish pronunciation: [ˈradʲo ˈtʲɛlʲəfʲiËʃ ˈeËrʲən]; Radio [and] Television of Ireland; abbreviated as RTÉ) is a statutory semi-state company and the public service broadcaster that dominates the radio and TV sectors in Ireland. The first commercial radio stations began broadcasting in 1989. Prior to 1989 hundreds of pirate radio stations were a mainstay of radio listener-ship, particularly in Dublin, and a handful of pirate stations continue to operate illegally today. In 1998 TV3 became the first privately owned commercial TV station and it remains the main free-to-air service after RTÉ. Competition also comes from British public and private terrestrial TV. Satellite and cable TV are widely available. There are also non-commercial community and special interest radio stations.
RTÉ both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet in English and Irish. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on 31 December 1961, making RTÉ one of the oldest continuously operating public service broadcasters in the world. Some RTÉ services are only funded by advertising, while other RTÉ services are only funded by the television licence fee.
Saorview (/ˈsɛərvjuË/ SAIR-vew) is Ireland's national free-to-air digital terrestrial television (DTT) service operated by 2RN. Trial service began on 29 October 2010 with full service to the public from May 2011. Analogue television transmissions ended on 24 October 2012.
SAORSAT is Ireland's national free-to-air digital satellite television service, also operated by 2RN. SAORSAT delivers Irish television services to the 1% to 2% of homes that are not covered by the SAORVIEW Digital Terrestrial Television service.
A television licence is required for any address at which there is a television set or device that is not exempt. The annual licence fee is €160. The licence is free to senior citizens (to anyone over the age of 70, some over 66), some Social Welfare recipients, and individuals who are blind.
See also
- Community Radio Forum of Ireland (CRAOL)
- Internet censorship in Ireland
- List of Irish-Gaelic radio stations
- List of television channels available in the Republic of Ireland
- Media of the Republic of Ireland
References
External links
- Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
- Commission for Communications Regulation