Cyprus Internet Usage Rises - 2009

Internet usage in households and businesses rose in 2009 as the percentage of enterprises with Internet access increased to 92.2 percent from 82.3 percent in 2008, said the Cyprus Statistical Service (CYSTAT).

Meanwhile, there was a rise of 10 percent in the number of households with Internet access in the first quarter of 2009.

DSL is the most widely used type of Internet connection by businesses, according to the latest information 90.7 percent of enterprises use DSL.

Other key findings:

A significant percentage of enterprises (71,9 percent) used the Internet for interaction with online government services.

In 2009 the percentage of enterprises with their own website was 51,6 percent.

The percentage of enterprises receiving orders via computer networks was 7,2 percent in 2009, compared to 7,1 percent in 2008 and 6,4 percent in 2007.

In 2009 the percentage of enterprises that ordered products or services via computer networks increased to 25,3 percent compared to 2008 (23,7 percent).

During the first quarter of 2009, 44,7 percent of the population were regular Internet users (meaning that they access the Internet at least once a week).

Among the people who used the Internet, the most popular activities were finding information about goods or services and sending or receiving e-mails.

During the first quarter of 2009, there was a significant increase in the percentage of the
population aged between 16-74 years old that made orders of goods or services for private
use over the Internet (from 6,8 percent in 2008 to 13,0 percent in 2009).

In 2009, the total traffic volume of national fixed telephony was 2.192.769 thousand minutes, and 5.288.772 thousand minutes for national mobile telephony.

In 2009 there were 1.323 mobile subscriptions per 1.000 inhabitants. The subscriptions per
1.000 inhabitants were 1.276, 1.219 and 1.114, in 2008, 2007 and 2006 respectively.

The number of analogue telephone lines, as well as ISDN lines remained constant in the past three years.
 
There was a significant increase in the number of computers connected to the Internet per 100
pupils, in 2009, by 2300 percent in Primary education, 569 percent in Secondary and 113 percent in Tertiary education, compared to 2001.