Number of households with home internet drops 2% as popularity of mobile internet increases
Eighty-six percent of households in Estonia had internet access at home during the first quarter of 2016 — a drop of two percent compared to the same period last year. Those households without an internet connection at home cited lack of interest as the primary reason for not having one, reported Statistics Estonia.
A fixed broadband connection, either wired or wireless, continues to be the most popular type of internet connection, utilized by 90 percent of households with internet access. 88 percent of households without children and 92 percent of households with children had a fixed broadbad internet connection at home.
Use of mobile internet has made a significant jump as well. While in the first quarter of 2015 slightly over half, or 56 percent, of households had mobile internet, by the first quarter of 2016 more than three in four households, or 78 percent, had it. The use of fixed broadband connections, either wired or wireless in nature, is more popular among households in urban areas, while mobile internet is more popular among rural households.
87 percent of persons aged 16-74 had used the internet during the first three months of 2016. The share of internet users is highest among 16- to 54-year olds at 90 percent, and lowest among 55- to 74-year olds at 65 percent. Of people with at least basic or primary education, sevn out of ten used the internet, while nine out of ten people with higher education did the same.
Nine out of ten 16- to 74-year-old internet users had used the internet during the last three months for online banking, reading newspapers and magazines, using email as well as seeing information about products and serices. 64 percent of internet users aged 16 to 74 years listened to music online while 43 percent watched a television program.
56 percent of 16- to 74-year-olds had purchased products or services online during the last 12 months. Compared to men, the share of e-commerce users is 6 percent higher among women. Items most frequently purchased online included travel and accommodation services (59 percent), tickets to concerts, cinema, theater and other events (55 percent), insurance policies, including those offered as a package, and apparel, shoes or sports equipment (51 percent).
During the first quarter of 2016, 74 percent of e-commerce users purchased goods or services online up to five times. Younger e-commerce users, aged 16-24, made online purchases more often (3-5 times) than older e-commerce users, aged 65-74 (1-2 times). In 43 percent of cases, the price of goods purchased online, excluding expenditure on shares and other financial services, remained between 100-499 euros; more men than women made online purchases worth over 500 euros. Compared to the first quarter of 2015, the share of those who made online purchases more often than five times increased by three percent while the share of persons who had spent more than 500 euros grew by two percent.
Cloud services, big data increasingly popular
In the business sector, use of cloud services designed to share resources via the web, including software, hardware or combinations thereof, has become increasingly more widespread. More than one fifth of Estonian businesses have bought paid cloud services. The most popular cloud services include financial and operational software, office software, file storage and recording services as well as email services. The main users of paid cloud services are businesses belonging to the information and communications sector, 54 percent of whom are providers of cloud services themselves as well.
The use of big data is a rapidly spreading trend. Big data is generated, for example, with the help of production process sensors by logging various transactions, but also as a result of various social media activity, and forwarded automatically from machine to machine. 13 percent of Estonian businesses have analyzed big data. Big data is analyzed the most by information and communications-sector businesses (29 percent), followed by water supply, sewage and waste management businesses (28 percent) and financial and insurance businesses (21 percent).
IT usage among persons aged 16-74 and in households and businesses is studied based on a harmonized methodology employed across all EU member states.
Statistics Estonia has surveyed IT usage in businesses since 2001. In 2016, approximately 3,400 businesses in total participated in the survey.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS