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!

web roi

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.

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