DESPITE THE INCREASE IN CONNECTIONS IN THE HOME, THE NUMBER OF INTERNET USERS HAS STABILISED.
According to data obtained for the 4th quarter of 2002 by the Eustat, 38,300 persons aged 15 and over have gained access to the Internet in the home. Two out of every five of these people are aged between 45 and 54 –16,200-, ahead of the group of 15 to 24 year olds, which increased by 11,000, almost 11%. 71% of the new connections correspond to females.
In addition, 17,800 people more than in the 2nd quarter had access to a personal computer at home. Four out of every five were women. With these results, it may be said that half the population in the A.C. of the Basque Country has a PC at home.
Over the second half of 2002 the number of persons with access to a mobile phone increased by 26,300, almost 2%, four in every five persons possessing one. Two in three new users live alone, the remaining third corresponding to couples without children. A total of 15,500 persons with new access to a mobile phone is aged 55 or over.
Furthermore, in the 4th quarter Gipuzkoa reached the highest rate of connectivity in the home, where 33.3% of the population had access to the Internet, compared to 31.5% in Álava and 29.3% in Bizkaia, the average for the Autonomous Community being 31%.
Álava had the highest rate of access to a PC, with almost 52%, hardly varying with regard to the 2nd quarter, while the other Provinces were close to the 50% average for the A.C. of the Basque Country, with 4% growth in Gipuzkoa and 1.4% in Bizkaia.
With regard to Eurobarometer data for May-June 2002, which gave a figure of 40% of the population with access to the Internet in the home for the 15 countries in the EU, there is still a 9 percent difference. Spain has a rate of 29%, two percent below the A.C. of the Basque Country, and Greece is at the bottom of the connectivity ranking. Denmark, Holland and Sweden possessed the highest rates, at round 65%.
The percentage of Internet users stabilises at round 30% of the population aged 15 and over
With regard to the 2nd quarter of 2002, the number of Internet users fell by 6,600 persons, breaking the trend of steady growth in recent years. This slight fall is concentrated in Álava, where there were higher increases in users in the first half of the year, with slight increases in users in Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa.
The loss of weight by study centres as places of connection, 6,400 persons fewer than in the 2nd quarter, 12,800 fewer at the place of work, and above all 23,300 fewer at cyber cafés and libraries, etc., besides the possible displacement to the home, 16,400 more users, where access seems to be more selective, could be some of the explanations for the stabilisation in the census of Internet users.
This trend of centralising the connection in the home is coupled with the intensification of use: the average length of the last access to the Internet increased by almost 9 minutes, there was an 11% fall for the group of users who connected once a month or less, increases in connections during holidays and the number of those who used email in the last connection –11.5%-.
The number of Internet users who purchased over the Internet did not vary
Slightly over one in six Internet users made a purchase through the web, 98,000, practically the same figure as six months before, in addition to a sharp fall in interest in requesting information in order to purchase, 43% fewer than in the 2nd quarter.