The number of people aged 15 or over who have access to a personal computer grew by 24,300 –2.4%-, passing the one million mark –1,016,300- for the first time, according to Eustat data. Additionally, 64,100 more people more than in the 4th quarter of 2003 could access the Internet from their homes, meaning a 9.8% increase.

With this growth, penetration rates for the population aged 15 or over reached 56.4% for personal computers (desktop PCs, laptops, PDAs or pocket PCs) and 40% for access to the Internet. Taking the 2nd quarter of 2003 as a reference, growth for personal computers over the year came to 5.7% and for Internet connections it was 14.2%.

Following the loss of momentum observed in the latter half of 2003, access to mobile telephones in the home grew 2.5% in the first half of 2004

Growth of access to mobile telephones in the home recovered, going from 0.4% in the second half of 2003 to 2.5% in the first one of 2004.

85.9% of the increase in mobile telephones was due to access by people aged 55 or over that do not live in a nuclear family with children; in this last-named family, the penetration rate stood at 94.5%.

There was similar growth throughout the three provinces, meaning that Álava maintained the highest penetration rate for mobile telephones per household with 87.1%, followed by Gipuzkoa with 86.2% and Bizkaia with 85.5%, as regards the population aged 15 or over.

61.3% of the increase in household access to the Internet during the latest six-month period was among the population with higher education

Two out of three people aged 15 or over with higher education had access to the Internet in their home, 19.4% more than in the 4th quarter of 2003. The variation for the population with secondary or primary studies was an increase of around 5%. This different pattern of evolution led to a widening in the gap between the rates of those with higher education and those with primary of over five per cent.

The important growth in Internet access in the households of Bizkaia and, especially of Álava over the latest six-month period made a substantial reduction in the differences between provinces. However, Gipuzkoa still commands the highest rates with 41.2%, followed by Álava with 40.6% and Bizkaia, not far behind with a figure of 39.1%.

The number of Internet users grew by 6.2% with regard to the 4th quarter of 2003

The total number of Internet users aged 15 or over who accessed the net during the latest three-month period came to 618,400 for the second quarter of 2004, 34.3% of the population of the A.C. of the Basque Country within the aforementioned age bracket.

With 36,300 more Internet users in the first half of 2004, the percentage increase tripled that of the latter half of 2003, which stood at around 2%. Nine out of ten new Internet users were university-educated and almost two in three –63.1%- were women. The gender gap was reduced from 7.5 per cent to 6.8.

As for the evolution by province and parallel to growth during the latest six-month period in household Internet connections, the increase in the number of users was appreciably higher in Álava and Bizkaia than in Gipuzkoa: Álava increased by 3.5 per cent to reach a user rate of 35.9%, Bizkaia rose 2.3 with a final rate of 33.2% and Gipuzkoa by only 1.2 per cent, bringing its rate to 35.5%.

A 15.4% increase in household Internet access

The greatest increase in access, 15.4%, was in the home, while it was 8.6% in study centres, 8.5% in the workplace and 7.7% in other places such as libraries, cybercafés or KZ-GUNEA centres. Over two in three Internet users went on-line in the home –73.3%-, 44% in the workplace, 19.2% in study centres and 12.5% in other places.

Almost 100,000 Internet users use Basque to surf the Internet

The number of users who surf websites in Basque grew by 34.4% during the latest six-month period, making a total of 98,000 users.

71.1% of this group are under 35, 50.8% work and 41.4% study, 51.4% have higher education and 46.9% secondary. 44.1% are resident in Bizkaia, a slightly higher percentage than the proportion of Basque speakers in this province out of the total A.C. of the Basque Country, which for the population aged 2 or over in the Population and Housing Census of 2001 was 41.7%. 43% are resident in Gipuzkoa, which, in the census had 51.4% of the Basque speakers of the Community.

24,500 more Internet users made purchases on the Internet in the first half of 2004

The number of Internet users who made purchases via the Internet during the three-month reference period grew 39.8%, going from 61,600 in the fourth quarter of 2003 to 86,100 in the second one of 2004. This figure represents 4,200 more Internet users than were registered in the same quarter of 2003 and means annual growth of 5.1%. This evolution shows a seasonal factor in growth during the second quarter, probably linked, on one hand, to Christmas purchasing and on the other, to travel bookings, which usually coincide in the first half of the year.

As for the most common products and services in electronic shopping, it is worth mentioning that one in three Internet buyers book journeys or holiday accommodation –33.6%-, 11.8% buy books and magazines, 10.9% music or musical instruments, 7.9% software and 6.5% computer equipment.

One in five Internet users in Gipuzkoa made purchases on the Internet, while for those in Álava and Bizkaia it was only one in eight

19% of Internet users resident in Gipuzkoa made a purchase on the web over the latest quarter, a percentage that fell to 12.6% in Álava and 11.1% in Bizkaia.