Internet users in the A.C. of the Basque Country have increased in number by 21,000 in the fourth quarter of 2004, 3.4% more than in the second quarter, according to Eustat data. With this incorporation to the web, 35.5% of the population aged 15 and over have connected to the Internet over the last three months. For the first time, the average length of Internet connections was higher than an hour, to be exact, 60.3 minutes.

This increase in Internet users hides, on the one hand, a loss of 10,900 seasonal young users –aged 15 to 24-; on the other hand, the group of unemployed and inactive contribute most to the Internet user census: 23,600 persons. Of these, four out of every five are aged between 25 and 44, 70% are female and almost two thirds live in Bizkaia.

In the last six months of 2004 the rate of growth in Internet users doubled, if compared with the same period in 2003

Over the last two years the most important increases in figures of Internet users occurred over the first half of the year. However, while between the second and the fourth quarters of 2004 growth of 3.4% was registered, in the same period of time in 2003 the increase was 1.7%.

Álava once again leads the user rates with 37.3% and growth of 4%, followed by Bizkaia with 35.4% and an increase of 6.7%. Gipuzkoa, with a 2% fall in Internet users has the lowest rate, with 34.8%.

The percentage of users that access the Internet from home, 71.1%, is the highest among state Internet users, although in the fourth quarter of 2004 we can see a trend towards levelling off, with growth of only 1.1%.

The drop in the speed of growth also affects access from other places (Cyber cafés, libraries, etc.), as the increase is 3.2%; another 2.3% users connect to the web at work, but access from the study centre fell 6.1% in the last quarter, due to seasonal effects.

Two out of every five Internet users have used CHAT services, 15% more than in the second quarter of 2004

Apart from access itself to the Internet, the service most used by users in the A.C. of the Basque Country is email: 81.2%, increasing by 4.9% with regard to the survey for the second quarter of 2004. The service that has grown most over this period is CHAT, as it has grown from a use rate of 35-4% to 39.4%.

Access to the mobile phone in the home reached 86.5% of the population, with 0.7% growth in the fourth quarter of 2004

Although the highest growth in access to a mobile phone occurred in the first six months of the year, while in the second half of 2003 the increase was 0.4% -5,800 new potential users- in the period corresponding to 2004 the percentage came to 0.7% and 10,600 more people.

Women make up most of the new users of mobile phones, rising from 83.9% in the second quarter of 2004 to 85.1% in the fourth, while among males the rate remains around 88%.

Alaveses own this type of equipment more than the average for the A.C. of the Basque Country, 88%, followed by Guipuzcoanos and Vizcaínos, with slightly over 86% in both cases.

Although Internet purchases are usually concentrated in the first six months of the year, the fourth quarter of 2004 saw a 6.5% rise in purchases

Internet users who made purchases through the Internet over the last three months grew by 6.5% between the second and fourth quarters of 2004. The percentage of electronic trade users at the end of 2004 came to 14.3% of Internet users.