Ireland is best for WiFi!

The Irish Sunday Times reports that Ireland has been named the top WiFi country, thanks to a healthy cafe culture. But as the article also goes on to discuss, this is not necessarily a good indicator of leadership in IT takeup.

A survey of 12 of the world’s leading economies by Ofcom, has found the republic has more WiFi “hotspots” per head of population than America, Japan, France, Germany or the UK. The number of WiFi hotspots in Ireland grew by 210% last year. Eircom dominates the market, operating 75% of them.

What is interesting is that this contradicts various reports describing Ireland as being a laggard in terms of the quality of its broadband rollout. However Fergal O’Byrne, the chief executive of the Irish Internet Association has an explaination for this apparent contradiction

“Ironically, the reason why WiFi in cafes, pubs and hotel lobbies is taking off is probably because of the difficulty in accessing broadband at home”

Also unlike a lot of other countries, WiFi access is usually free in Irish pubs, cafes, hotels and civic spaces. Which of course further drives the cafe culture.

To round everything off, Ofcom points out that a high WiFi ranking is no necessarily a reason for satisfaction. Japan, for instance has a lowly position on the WiFi list because it has already moved beyond the technology!

Read the original report here