The MCA publishes its Co Market Review report for

trend towards mobile substitution.

This trend has pulled the ARPU for the fixed line down, with figures falling to €72.37 in the first half of 2016 from €76.42 in the first half of last year.

Fixed broadband

The broadband sector is one of the most positively performing sectors, with growth recorded across most indicators. The overall number of subscriptions keep increasing year-on-year, particularly for products offering higher download speeds. The fixed broadband subscriber base totalled around 168,000 at the end of last June, with the number of fixed broadband subscriptions supporting superfast download speeds (i.e. download speeds of 30Mbps or higher) almost topped 100,000. This latter figure is up by 9,349 (or by 10.3%) when compared to the number of such subscriptions recorded a year earlier.

Underlying the considerable jump in take-up of superfast fixed broadband is the continued drive by service providers to upgrade existing customers to these products and the occasional offers and discounts that characterise this product range, particularly when purchased as part of a bundle. Fixed broadband subscriptions supporting download speeds of 30Mbps or higher now represent 59.4% of the local fixed broadband subscriber base, up from 57% a year earlier.

The increasing proportion of fixed broadband connections on super-fast download speeds has contributed towards an improved ARPU. Fixed broadband ARPU for the first half of 2016 stood at €95.75, up by 7.1% from €89.34 in the first half of the previous year. This increase in ARPU happened at a time when the average price per Mbit was down by almost 29% year-on-year.