Home Broadband Penetration Reaches 66%
Published: 16.09.2011 12:29
Photo: Postimees/Scanpix
A newly-released study by Statistics Estonia shows that the portion of households with a broadband internet connection hit 66 percent in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 2 percent since the same period of 2010.
In all, 71 percent of households had some form of internet connection, a 3 percent rise over the year.
The poll also found that mobile internet connections are becoming increasingly popular, and are now used by one in six households.
Unsurprisingly, internet use was highest among young people, reaching 98 percent of those in the 16 to 24 age group and 96 percent of those in the 25 to 34 age group. The numbers start to taper off when those over 45 are polled, dropping to just 25 percent among those aged 65 to 74.
Though Estonia is known as a digital go-getter, it has fallen behind its EU neighbors in the portion of its territory covered by broadband, European Commission data revealed in June. A two-megabits-per-second internet speed is only available in 59 percent of the country, compared to the EU average of 87 percent.
A publicly-funded project called EstWin, however, aims to provide the entire population with 100-megabits-per-second broadband internet access by 2015.
Steve Roman