Press release 03/07/2014
76% of Basque companies access the internet via mobile connections in 2014, 12 points up on the previous year
67.2% of companies with Internet access use it to carry out procedures with the Public Administration, with a rate of 92.1% in those with 10 or more employees
Mobile connections are the second most popular means of Internet access for companies in the Basque Country, with 75.7% of them accessing it via this method, after a growth of 12.4 percentage points over the last year, according to data prepared by Eustat.
Basque companies continued to improve their ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) equipment at the beginning of 2014, according to data provided by Eustat. At the same time, the percentage of employees using these technologies also keeps increasing year after year.
However, this continuing improvement has slowed down over the last year, as the availability threshold for the main ICT equipment has practically been reached, especially in larger establishments. 82.8% of establishments now have a computer, having increased by 0.7 percentage points over the last year; 79.7% of all establishments have e-mail, an improvement of 1.1 points; and 81.2% have internet access, up by 2.4 points. The mobile phone, in turn, following an increase of 3.9 percentage points over the last year, continues to be the most common piece of ICT equipment in the Autonomous Region, being available in 87.5% of Basque establishments.
Moreover, 47.1% of companies have a website, following an increase of 3.9 points over the last year. This figure rises to 58.1% if we only take into account companies with an Internet connection.
By Province, although the differences are not very significant, the establishments in Álava had the greatest implementation of these technologies, followed by those in Gizpuzkoa. Bizkaia, for its part, obtained slightly lower figures.
Companies with 10 or more employees, except in the case of websites, practically maintained the same ICT equipment, having already nearly reached the availability threshold
These equipment percentages are higher in establishments with 10 or more employees. However, despite their extensive use - 98.4% with a computer, 97.4% with e-mail, 97.5% with internet access, 94.4% with a mobile phone and 86.3% with a website - their growth rate is much more limited than in small establishments.
Regarding the percentage of employees using these technologies, there has once again been a rise compared to the previous year. Thus, 67.6% of personnel in work use a computer, 61.7% have e-mail and 60.3% have access to the Internet.
Unlike in equipment, it is important here to indicate how the percentages of employees using this technology are very similar, independently of the size of the establishment, due, amongst other reasons, to the greater progress in small establishments and to the fact that, in large ones, not all employees have access to this equipment.
On the other hand, 80.9% of companies, and almost all (98.5%) of those with 10 or more employees, use some form of computer security measure, particularly antivirus software, firewalls and secure servers, or subscribe to security services.
Furthermore, 62.0% of Basque companies have free software, such as Internet browsers, office programs, free or open-source operating systems (Linux...) etc. This percentage goes up to 80.1% for companies with 10 or more employees.
Mobile connections for Internet access are experiencing the greatest growth in Basque companies in recent years
Basque companies with Internet access currently stand at 81.2% of the total, after those connected rose by 2.4 percentage points the previous year. Although the predominant means of accessing the web continues to be via ADSL, with a rate of 81.2%, this percentage has stalled and has even decreased by 3.4 points over the last year. Nowadays, mobile connections are growing significantly year after year, with 75.7% of companies currently accessing the web via this method, after a growth of 12.4 points over the last year.
Fibre-optic cable comes next, with a rate of 33%, after also growing by 4.4 points.
The remaining methods have obtained utilisation percentages that were lower and were decreasing. ISDN lines accounted for 5.0%, modem connections accounted for 2.3% and other fixed connections stood at 2.2%.
In companies with 10 or more employees, 97.1% have access to the Internet. Also, in companies of this size, although ADSL is still the predominant method of accessing the internet, with 85.9% usage, mobile connections have experienced the greatest growth over the last year, up by 5.5 points, with 81.7% companies of this size now using this method. Cable comes next, with a rate of 45.5%, after also growing by 5.6 points. Next come the other methods, which are further behind: ISDN stands at 10.1%, modem stands at 2.5% and other fixed connections account for 7.1%.
67.2% of companies with Internet access use it to carry out procedures with the Public Administration, with a rate of 92.1% in those with 10 or more employees
It is noteworthy that 67.2% of companies with Internet access carry out procedures with the Public Administration via this method, and use the Internet to obtain information, to obtain and complete various printouts and forms, carry out administrative procedures, present proposals and bids, and declare Social Security contributions, corporation tax and VAT, amongst other alternatives. In the case of companies with 10 or more employees, the percentage that interact with the Administration via the Internet is 92.1%.
47.1% of Basque companies have an online presence via a website, with a rate of 86.3% in those with 10 or more employees
Companies are increasingly conscious of the importance of maintaining a presence on the Internet via a website. Hence, over the last year, those that have had a web presence accounts for 47.1% of the total, following an increase of 3.9 percentage points, whilst in companies with 10 or more employees, this figure stands at 86.3%, after growing by 2.7 points. If we take into account solely those companies that have an Internet connection, these percentages rise to 58.1% for the total and 88.5% in those with 10 or more employees.
These websites provide general information on the company, a list of products and services offered, a data privacy statement, job offers and after-sale services.
Regarding languages that they can be accessed in, Spanish particularly stands out, available in 98.9% of cases; Basque was in 36.7% of cases; English, 30.4% and other languages, 15.0%.
Internet access, broadband use and online presence in Basque companies with 10 or more employees exceeded the EU-27 average
At an international level, and for a perfect comparability with the EU-27, as well as employing the data of companies with 10 or more employees and the activities that they are grouped into (they do not take into account the financial sector, the public administration, etc.), information from 2013 must be used, where Basque companies obtained Internet access percentages (97.1%) higher than the European Union 27 average (96%), as well as having a greater percentage of fixed broadband use (95.8% to 90%) and mobile broadband use (73.9% to 56%). The Basque country also had a greater percentage of companies with a website, 83.6% in 2013 compared to the 73.0% EU-27 average.
21.6% of Basque companies carried out e-commerce in 2013, with a rate of 27.5% in those with 10 or more employees
In 2013, 21.6% of Basque establishments carried out e-commerce, following an increase of 1.9 points compared to the previous year. This figure was reached mainly thanks to the 19.7% of those who made purchases electronically, with an increase of 1.7 percentage points, and, to a lesser extent, thanks to those who made sales electronically, which only stood at 5.2%, 0.6 points up on 2012.
These figures were higher in companies with 10 or more employees, where the proportion of those who made purchases or sales via the web or through other electronic systems (EDI, electronic data exchange) accounted for 27.5%, following a fall of 0.2 points. Also in this section, the greatest part of this total originated from those who made electronic purchases, accounting for 23.4% and also falling by 0.2 points compared to the previous year, and, to a lesser extent, by those who made sales via the same methods, standing at 10.0%, 0.4 points down on 2012.
For further information:
Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Instituto Vasco de Estadística
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Press Service: servicioprensa@eustat.eus Tel: 945 01 75 62
Further press releases on Information Society Survey of the Basque Country (ESI) Companies
Information Society Survey of the Basque Country (ESI) Companies databank