Data from communications regulator ComReg shows that the number of fixed broadband subscriptions in Q1 2019 rose by 2% compared with a year earlier.

The estimated household fixed broadband penetration rate is now 68.5%. More to the point for users, average connection speeds rose too. Circa 88.2% of all fixed broadband subscriptions are over 10Mbps, up from 85.2% in Q1 2018, while 78.5% of connections are over 30Mbps, up ffive points from a year earlier.

Voice traffic minutes decreased by 3.9% in the quarter and were 5.6% lower than in Q1 2018. Mobile minutes form the majority of voice minutes at 82%, with fixed minutes accounting for 18%. 

On average, mobile subscribers used 207 minutes (2.2% annual decrease), sent 64 texts (16.7% annual decrease) and used 6.5GB of data (up 21.2% annually). 

Industry retail revenues for Q1 totalled €870m. Mobile revenues grew 1.5% in Q1 but were down 3.8% in the year, while fixed line revenues declined by 1.6% in Q1 and 1.2% compared to year earlier.

In Association with

Machine-to-machine (M2M) subscriptions increased to 1,059,000, a 20% annual increase and made up 16.7% of all mobile subscriptions in Q1 2019.  M2M channels are communication channels that involve data communication between devices or systems, whether wireless or wired. 

Specific examples of M2M applications include smart metering, vehicle and consignment tracking, alarm monitoring systems, ATM machines, smart home applications such as switching on and off lights, heating and other appliances, and even rubbish bins that signal when they are full.

The full ComReg report is available here.