Tuesday, December 27, 2011

BPN 1588: The year that was (1): Arab spring

 In December last year I was in Abu Dhabi for the World Summit Mobile Award Ceremony. With hotel on the Formula 1 circuit it was an exciting stay. It was not exciting because of the circuit itself as once a day a car sweeping the circuit passed the hotel room, an hour later followed by a cohort of professional bicyclists. It was really exciting as the World Summit Award had created a competition in mobile content and found a sponsoring partner willing to invest in the competition, the winners and the network. And there were many exciting applications, enough to change the name of Abu Dhabi in the city of Apps Dhabi.

After Abu Dhabi I was in more Arab countries like Kuwait and Bahrain in February and March. In Kuwait there was some unrest. I was there in the framework of the Kuwait Content Excellence Awards. Again the WSA local representative had organised a jury to judge new multimedia applications. Again here apps were popping up like mushrooms in fall.
In Bahrain I was invited to do two workshops and be an observer to the Bahrain eContent Award competition. The unrest that started in February formed a difficulty for the workshop. On the first day of the workshop, when we were just in the second hour, a burial procession passed under the window of the class room. We had to improvise a lot as the students could not always reach the classroom. So we decided to form a closed user group on Facebook and do a lot of the work online. This worked as most of the students were computer graduates.
A month later I arrived for the Bahrain eContent Award jury. And again the unrest formed a difficulty. We had to move hotel to a hotel close to the airport and had to work online, not seeing each other and missing out on profound debates. I left the country being very sad.
A month later I was in Hong Kong for the World Summit Global Award jury, organised by Alexander Hung with the support of Elisabeth Quat and Winny Tang, members of the ICT professional association iPROA. It became a good meeting ground with the colleagues from the Middle East: Faouzi from Tunesia, Effat from Egypt, Nawaf from Bahrain and Manar from Kuwait, Suleman from the United Arab Emirates and Nibal from Syria/Lebanon. We even managed to put out the Arab eContent Awards, which were later on awarded in a ceremony linked to a conference.
For the coming year there are already some fixed dates in the diary. In April the World Summit Award Ceremony will be held in Cairo; hopefully a sign that Egypt is recovering. Later that year The World Summit Mobile Award jury will be held in Abu Dhabi, followed in December by the award ceremony.
Among the best wishes from 2012 I found an image sent by Faouzi from Tunesia, which sums it up: Thanks to the people. Thanks Facebook!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

BPN 1587 Internet access and use in EU27 in 2011

Almost a quarter of persons aged 16-74 in the EU27 have never used the internet
For many people today it seems difficult to live without the internet, however a decreasing, but still non-negligible, part of the EU population has never used it. In the EU27, almost three quarters of households1 had access to the internet in the first quarter of 2011, compared with almost half in the first quarter of 2006. The share of households with broadband internet connections more than doubled between 2006 and 2011, to reach 68% in 2011 compared with 30% in 2006. During the same period, the share of individuals aged 16-74 in the EU27 who had never used the internet decreased from 42% to 24%.
These data2 published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, represent only a small part of the results of a survey on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usage in households and by individuals in the EU27 Member States, Iceland, Norway, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey. As well as internet use and broadband connections, the survey also covers other indicators such as e-commerce, e-skills and e-government.

Household internet access ranges from 45% in Bulgaria to 94% in the Netherlands
The level of internet access increased in all Member States between 2006 and 2011, however differences remain significant. In 2011, shares of internet access of 90% and over were recorded in the Netherlands (94%), Luxembourg and Sweden (both 91%) and Denmark (90%), while shares of 50% and below were registered in Bulgaria (45%), Romania (47%) and Greece (50%).
Broadband internet access enables higher speed when browsing and performing activities over the internet. The proportion of households with a broadband connection rose in all Member States in 2011 compared with 2006. Sweden (86%) registered the highest share of broadband connections in 2011, followed by Denmark (84%), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (both 83%) and Finland (81%), while Romania (31%), Bulgaria (40%) and Greece (45%) had the lowest.

Share of those who never used the internet varies from 5% in Sweden and 54% in Romania
The target set for 2015 by the Digital Agenda for Europe3 is to reduce the share of individuals in the EU27 aged 16-74 who had never used the internet to 15%. This share stood at 24% in the EU27 in 2011. In 2011, the highest proportions of those having never used the internet were observed in Romania (54% of individuals aged 16-74), Bulgaria (46%), Greece (45%), Cyprus and Portugal (both 41%), and the lowest in Sweden (5%), Denmark and the Netherlands (both 7%), Luxembourg (8%) and Finland (9%).

E-commerce most frequent in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany and Sweden
Almost half of internet users4 aged 16-74 in the EU27 used the internet within the last 12 months to obtain information from websites of public authorities, and 28% to submit completed forms to public authorities, for example tax declarations (e-government). In 2011, the largest proportions of internet users who obtained information from websites of public authorities were observed in Denmark (86% of internet users), Sweden (74%), Finland (65%), Estonia and the Netherlands (both 62%). The highest shares of those having used the internet for submitting completed forms to public authorities were recorded in Denmark (70% of internet users), the Netherlands (52%), Portugal (48%) and Estonia (46%).
In 2011, 58% of internet users in the EU27 had ordered goods or services over the internet
(e-commerce) within the last 12 months. The highest shares were observed in the United Kingdom (82%), Denmark and Germany (both 77%) and Sweden (75%).




Households with internet access and broadband connections, %
Internet access
Broadband connection
2006
2011
2006
2011
EU27
49
73
30
68
Belgium
54
77
48
74
Bulgaria
17
45
10
40
Czech Republic
29
67
17
63
Denmark
79
90
63
84
Germany
67
83
34
78
Estonia
46
71
37
66
Ireland
50
78
13
65
Greece
23
50
4
45
Spain
39
64
29
62
France
41
76
30
70
Italy
40
62
16
52
Cyprus
37
57
12
56
Latvia
42
64
23
59
Lithuania
35
62
19
57
Luxembourg
70
91
44
68
Hungary
32
65
22
61
Malta
53
75
41
75
Netherlands
80
94
66
83
Austria
52
75
33
72
Poland
36
67
22
61
Portugal
35
58
24
57
Romania
14
47
5
31
Slovenia
54
73
34
67
Slovakia
27
71
11
55
Finland
65
84
53
81
Sweden
77
91
51
86
United Kingdom
63
85
44
83
Iceland
83
93
72
93
Norway
69
92
57
80
Croatia*
41
61
23
56
Former Yug. Rep. of Macedonia*
14
46
1
37
Turkey*
20
43
17
39
* 2007 data instead of 2006 for Croatia and Turkey, 2010 data instead of 2011 for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

See full press release