Ireland is eighth most expensive in Europe for broadband
A survey of 196 countries found that the average price of broadband in Ireland is €60.57, which is cheaper than in Iceland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Norway, the Faroe Islands, Liechtenstein, and Malta, but more expensive than the rest of Europe.
The average cost of broadband in Malta comes in at €83.27 a month.
A comparison with Britain found that the average cost of broadband across the Irish Sea is almost half of what is charged in Ireland, at €34.63.
In August, Cable.co.uk released its findings on nations’ broadband speeds, in which Ireland ranked behind 25 other European states, 21 of which are in the EU.
The analysis of more than 63m broadband speed tests around the globe revealed that Ireland is 36th worldwide, with an average speed of 13.92Mbps.
“Our data demonstrates that when it comes to broadband, both the national marketplace and the infrastructure that underpins it are imperfect no matter where you live,” said Dan Howdle, consumer telecoms analyst at Cable.co.uk.
The cost of more than 3,351 broadband packages were recorded between August 18 and October 12.
They were then analysed by UK-based research consultancy company BDRC Continental and Cable.co.uk.
Researchers established the primary fixed line telecoms providers for each country, then found the price of the most basic package at each speed level.
All of these packages were then compiled to create the average cost.
Worldwide, Ireland ranked 69th of the 196 countries in terms of the most expensive broadband.
Burkina Faso is the most expensive, with an average package price of €819.47, and countries in sub-Saharan Africa also feature strongly in the expensive end of the table.
Namibia (€374.14), Zimbabwe (€144.81), and Mali (€139.24) are among the 10 most expensive countries.
Six of the top 10 cheapest countries in the world are found in the former USSR.
Within Western Europe, Italy is the cheapest, with an average package price of €24.53 per month.
It is followed by Germany (€28.94), Denmark (€30.50) and France (€30.87).
In North America, Canada (€46.66), come in 21 positions ahead of the US (€56.35) Researchers said Iran offers the world’s cheapest broadband, with an average cost of €4.58 per month.
