The beginning of 2007 saw Basque companies continue to expand their ICT –Information and Communication Technology– facilities, according to Eustat data.

The continued improvement in recent years of the most important facilities means that at present, 70.7% of establishments have a computer, after a rise of 2.1 percentage points in the last year, 61.6% have Internet access, having grown 5.2 points, and establishments with e-mail now account for 57.6% of the total, an improvement of 5.6 points. Mobile telephones, in turn, are found in 75.8% of cases, an increase of three percentage points on the previous figure, remaining the most widely-established piece of equipment.

An analysis of the evolution of the presence of various ICT facilities in Basque companies in recent years shows that following 2004, when their implementation lost momentum, the last three years have seen a recovery in growth rates.

Graph 1: Evolution of ICT facilities in Basque companies. (%)

Source: Eustat

As regards the percentage of employees that use these technologies, this remains steady, showing only slight growth. 59.1% of employed personnel use a computer, 49.2% have Internet access and 48.4% have e-mail.

Table 1: Employees using ICT facilities, by size of establishment and province. 2007. (%)

Source: Eustat

It should be pointed out that the percentages of employees using these technologies are very similar, regardless of the size of the establishment, due, among other reasons, to the greater progress made in small establishments and to the fact that not all employees have access to these technologies in the larger ones. Elsewhere, it can be seen that Bizkaia has the greatest percentage of employees using these technologies, followed by Gipuzkoa and Álava.

Table 2: Establishments with ICT facilities, by province. 2007.

* Difference in percentage points as regards the previous year.

Source: Eustat

It is also worth noting that, despite the differences not being highly significant, it is in the establishments of Álava where the implementation of these technologies is greatest, followed by Gipuzkoa in computers, e-mail and Internet and Bizkaia in mobile telephones and websites.

Companies with 10 or more employees also improved in ICT facilities, although more slowly than smaller ones

Although there have been significant increases in all employment strata, the greater the number of employees in the establishment, the smaller the increase, due to the slim margin for improvement in facilities available to the larger establishments, which are close to their utilisation threshold.

Thus the smallest establishments (0-9 employees), while continuing to have fewer facilities, are reducing the distance as regards the larger ones, with greater percentage growth.

In the 0 to 9 employees stratum, ICT facilities range from the 22.9% of establishments that have a website to the 74.7% which have mobile telephones, including 68.6% which have a computer, 59.1% which have Internet access and 54.7% with e-mail.

Compared to this, the mean of establishments with 10 or more employees falls between the 66.9% which have a website and the 97.8% which have a computer at their disposal, also including 89.9% with mobile telephones, 93.5% with Internet access and 94.5% with e-mail.

Internet access for Basque companies is largely through ADSL

The number of Basque companies with Internet access continues to grow year after year, currently accounting for 61.6% of the total, following an increase of 5.2 percentage points on last year. In addition, the most common means of accessing the net remains ADSL lines, whose use increases yearly and now covers 81.4% of the total number of companies with access.

After a further decrease in use and with percentages some way behind, came dial-up connections using a modem (23.3%), and RDSI lines (8.2%). Finally, connections using mobile telephone and others are gaining ground and now account for 6.4% and 8.2% respectively.

Table 3: Establishments with Internet access and means of access. (%)

Source: Eustat

Among companies with 10 or more employees, 93.5% have Internet access. ADSL lines are also the most common type of access for companies of this size, used by 87.1%, followed, also some way behind, by use of RDSI lines (14.3%), modem (12.9%), other lines (13.4%) and mobile telephone (11.4%).

Two in three Basque companies with 10 or more employees are present on the Internet through a website

The possession of a website, whether one’s own or hosted, has extended significantly among companies in the last year. Companies who are present on the net account for 26.2% of the total, following an increase of 3.1 percentage points, while for companies with 10 or more employees this figure came to 66.9%, after growing 0.5 points.

These websites chiefly contain general information concerning the company itself and a list of products and services offered, etc.

As regards the languages in which it can be accessed, Spanish was most outstanding, in 98.0% of cases, in Basque, 32.6%, in English 28.8% and in other languages 15.0%.

20.4% of Basque companies with 10 or more employees carried out e-commerce in 2006

Although slowly, e-commerce continues to grow in the A.C. of the Basque Country. In 2006, 12.8% of Basque establishments carried out e-commerce, following an increase of 2.3 points regarding the previous year. This figure was mainly achieved through the 11.4% who carried out purchases electronically, increasing 1.8 percentage points, and to a lesser extent through those who used this method for sales, representing a mere 2.9%, increasing 1.0 point.

These figures were greater in companies with 10 or more employees, where the proportion of those that carried out purchases or sales through the net or via other electronic systems (EDI, Electronic Data Interchange), came to 20.4%, following growth of 0.9 points. Here too, the greater part of this total was due to those who made electronic purchases, which accounted for 17.7% growing by 0.4 points as regards the previous year and, to a lesser extent, due to those who carried out sales in the same way, which came to 6.4%, after an increase of 1.3 points.

Methodological note: The Survey on the Information Society (ESI companies), carried out by Eustat in the first quarter of 2007 for the seventh year running, is directed at Basque companies in any activity sector, except the primary one and sets out to find out about Information and Communication Technology (ICT) facilities, the use made of the Internet and the importance of e-commerce. The survey is based on a response of 7,400 establishments located in the A.C. of the Basque Country.