Ireland is languishing close to the bottom of a new European league table measuring the penetration of broadband services. Technology Reporter Jamie Smyth reports.

Belgium and the Netherlands have the highest percentage of broadband services when compared to ordinary telephone lines while the Republic only beats Greece in a new survey of 15 European Union member states.

By the end of June, 63,610 telephone lines had been upgraded to supply broadband in Ireland, compared to 839,170 in Denmark, perhaps the closest European country in scale to the Republic.

However, the uptake of broadband services grew 39 per cent between the first and second quarters of 2004. This was the third fastest growth rate recorded by any country in the quarter. The survey by the European Competitive Telecommunications Association also shows that Ireland lags behind many other states in introducing local loop unbundling - the process which enables competitors to use Eircom's network to provide new services.

Just 2 per cent of the broadband lines in use in the Republic are being offered by competitors that have been able to install their own broadband equipment in Eircom's telecoms exchanges.

This compares with 23 per cent of DSL lines in Finland and 23 per cent of DSL lines in the Netherlands which are being offered by competitors to the incumbent telecoms operator.

Digital subscriber line is a technology that enables firms to offer high speed internet or broadband to consumers over the ordinary copper telephone wires that run into homes and businesses. The last mile of these telephone wires is almost exclusively owned by incumbent operators - such as Eircom - which in 2001 were ordered by the European Commission to lease them to rivals.

However, most incumbent firms in Europe have dragged their feet over "unbundling" their networks, preventing competitors from supplying a cost effective service to consumers.

In a statement accompanying its survey, the European Competitive Telecommunications Association said the data underscored the fact that where regulation was implemented effectively, investment by new entrants was forthcoming and a rich diversity of products was on offer to users.

It cited the example of France, which overtook Germany during the quarter in terms of the percentage of "unbundled" lines and innovative services provided over DSL technology. Competitors in France are offering television and voice over internet protocol services using DSL lines.

Eircom's commercial director, Mr David McRedmond, said the firm recognised that Ireland was close to the bottom of the list but reiterated that it was now pushing broadband strongly.

"We think we will shortly climb up the table," he added.

Meanwhile, figures supplied for the 10 new European Union members show Estonia and Slovenia have a similar number of DSL lines in use as the Republic.

There was no data for the total number of broadband lines.

Earlier this year, the Government set a goal to be at or better than the EU average (excluding accession countries) for end-user access to, and usage of, broadband by mid 2005.