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Minister Naughten welcomes the publication of the Digital Economy sand Society Index and Report

Minister for Communications Denis Naughten has today welcomed the publication of the European Commission’s annual Digital Economy and Society Index and Report (DESI)2018 which shows Ireland has improved its overall ranking to 6th place in the EU, up from 9th place in 2017.

Minister Naughten said:

It is significant that Ireland’s ranking has risen to 6th most digitally-advanced society in the EU and is in the highest-performing cluster of countries.  The fact that Ireland has also considerably improved its performance in terms of connectivity - now ranked in 11th place among EU countries, compared to 15th place last year - demonstrates the clear progress we are making.  Ireland’s coverage of fast broadband has grown to 89%, well above EU average, and we have also made inroads on take-up.

In order to improve high speed broadband access across Ireland, particularly in rural areas, my priority remains delivering the Government’s National Broadband Plan. My Department is in a formal procurement process to select a company to roll-out a new high speed broadband network in the State intervention area and this procurement process is now in its final stages.

The Mobile Phone and Broadband Taskforce in the meantime, is making considerable progress in removing barriers to investment for telcos, as it continues to identify and implement solutions to improve broadband and mobile coverage services for customers in the short term.  Ireland is a leader in several digital areas including the Trading Online Voucher Scheme which is empowering our SMEs to get online and trade online to capitalise on today’s digital opportunities. 

Europe’s Digital Economy and Society Index and Report 2018: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/desi

DESI report telecoms chapter: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/scoreboard/ireland

DESI 2018 Country report Ireland: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/image/document/2018-20/ie-desi_2018-country-profile_eng_B4406C2F-97C3-AA9A-53C27B701589A4F3_52225.pdf