Bank, savings bank and other finance web sites were mentioned a total of 72,600 times, 3.5% more than in the 2nd quarter of 2002, 68% of which correspond to savings banks, according to EUSTAT data corresponding to the 4th quarter of 2002. Among this type of websites, CAJALABORAL.ES leads the preferences of web users with 20,900 mentions, followed by BBK.ES and KUTXA.NET.

Digital newspapers continue to head the ranking of websites visited by Internet users aged 15 and over in the A.C. of the Basque Country, with 190,300 mentions, 6,300 more than in the 2nd quarter of 2002.

Ranking of the 20 most visited WEB sites by Internet users.

II and IV quarter of 2002. Thousand.

Source: Eustat

El CORREODIGITAL.COM continues to lead the ranking, within a panorama in which digital press websites predominate. In addition, three out of four websites that experi-ence higher increases with regard to the previous six months are also newspapers: ELCORREODIGITAL.COM stands out with an increase of 12,100 mentions, followed by ELPAIS.ES and MARCA.ES with 9,300 and 5,700 more, respectively.

However, also among this type of websites are two that experienced downturns in popularity among Internet users: DIARIOVASCO.COM (-6,600) and ELMUNDO.ES (-6,700).

The University websites –EHU.ES, DEUSTO.ES and UNED.ES– remain practically the same, with a significant increase for the University of the Basque Country (3,800 more mentions). Altogether, there were 4,200 more mentions than in the previous period.

Ranking of the 15 most mentioned Internet portals.

II and IV quarter of 2002. Thousand

Source: Eustat

GOOGLE is the most named search engine mentioned by Internet users this quarter with 377,600 mentions, 43% more than six months ago. The second engine, YAHOO, is at some distance in preference (158,300), even though it was in first place a year ago.

The other search engines, except HOTMAIL, lost weight.

9 minute increase in the average length of daily connections for one in three Internet users.

Sporadic Internet users (connect less than once a month) are unchanged with regard to the second quarter of 2002, representing only 6% of Internet users at this moment; on the other hand, there was an increase in the number of users who connect weekly. The average length of connection increased by almost 9 minutes and came to 59.1 minutes.

86% of Internet users use email at some time or other and slightly over two thirds do so weekly or more often.

The number of e-mail users increased significantly over the year (almost 5 percent), as did frequency of use: in the first quarter of the previous year it was used weekly or more often by 64%, while in the last year this percentage increased to 68.3%.

On the other hand, there are fewer and fewer Basque Internet users that chat on the net; in addition, there was a 3% increase in those who declared they had never chatted on the Internet.