Size of Ireland’s Domestic ICT Market

Summary

The information and communications technology (ICT) sector is a key component of the Irish economy with over 1,000 companies – both international and indigenous – employing over 100,000 people and accounting for more than 25% of Irish exports.  Despite the recent ICT downturn worldwide, the projection for the $3.6 billion Irish ICT sector in 2002 remains positive.  The principal market segments are as follows:

• Telecom services:                  $1.5 billion
• Computers & peripherals:       $1.0 billion
• Computer software:                $0.6 billion
• Telecom equipment:               $0.3 billion[1]

Telecommunications

In the telecom sector, the market trend is of rapid growth in the wireless/cellular segment.  Mobile technology accounts for nearly 60% of the 4.6 million telecom access paths nationally with 2.8 million subscribers, while fixed lines total 1.6 million and the number of Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) access channels stands at approximately 270,000.  Ireland’s mobile penetration rate (that is, the percentage of the population with a mobile phone) rose from 44% to 75% in one year to March 2001, and 20% of fixed line telephone service is now being supplied by companies that have entered the market over the past three years.[2]

The Irish telecommunications market was restructured throughout the 1990s, with a progressive liberalization of the sector culminating in the privatization of the state-owned monopoly operator, Eircom.  As of the first quarter of 2001, there were 46 licensed telecommunications companies operating in Ireland, up from 43 a year previously.  The telecommunications sector now accounts for roughly 3% of Irish GDP, employing almost 16,000 people.[3]

Hardware -- Personal Computers (PCs)

Annual PC sales are approximately 400,000 units.  While about one million Irish people now use a PC at home or in the workplace, home PC ownership (36%) is not as dynamic as the mobile telephony sector (75%), or on the other hand Sony Playstations (40%).  Home PC ownership and Internet usage are expected to grow provided the impediments of poor broadband infrastructure and lack of flat rate Internet access are addressed in a timely manner.

Internet Use

Like many other developed countries, use of the Internet has increased rapidly in Ireland in recent years.  However, despite Ireland’s high PC ownership level, the number of Internet hosts in 1999 of 227 per 1,000 was below the EU average.  According to an Amarach Consulting report in August 2002, Internet penetration in Ireland has reached 38% of Irish adults, up f5% on August 2001.  This is equivalent to 1,065,000 adult users in the country.  According to a government-sponsored survey in May 2001, Internet access cost and slow connection speeds available for residential Internet users were identified as the main barriers to continued Internet usage growth.[4]  This statistic helps explain why only 14% of adults in Ireland say they are “very likely” to subscribe to broadband services, while 32% claim they are “fairly likely” to sign-up.[5]

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