A new survey claims that most Irish broadband users are “not satisfied” with their broadband.
The Coyne Research poll of 1,000 people, commissioned by Imagine Communications, claims that over 60pc of rural dwellers believe faster broadband “would significantly enhance their quality of life” and that 42pc “feel their community has been let down by the quality of broadband they receive, rising to 64pc dissatisfaction in rural villages”.
The research comes as the government continues to say that a “conclusion” to the current National Broadband Plan assessment with Granahan McCourt is “a number of weeks away”.
Some 540,000 rural homes and businesses, affecting over one million people, are currently stuck without high speed broadband.
The government has pledged that a national state-funded rollout will connect every last one of the 540,000 premises to speeds up to 1,000Mbs.
This rollout is based primarily on fibre lines to each premises, with a small percentage likely to be connected wirelessly.
Imagine Communications, which paid for the Coyne Research survey, was eliminated from the National Broadband Plan as a primary bidder at an early stage.
Its founder, Sean Bolger, is understood to have grown disillusioned with the state rollout and has repeatedly criticised it.
Imagine’s main product is wireless broadband, described as 4G LTE. The company’s website asks rural village communities to club together so that Imagine might have a minimum number of customers it can rely on for business.
However, the government’s National Broadband Plan, which is scheduled to hook up all such premises to higher-speed, fibre broadband at a subsidised price, may affect demand for such products.
Imagine was a participant in Comreg’s most recent spectrum auction, buying a chunk for the purpose of offering high speed wireless internet in regional areas, potentially branded as ‘5G’.
However, it is not clear when it will roll this service out.
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