Malta ranks high in internet use

Malta has more homes connected to internet - 49 per cent - than any other EU acceding country, the second eEurope+ Progress Report shows.

Fifty-eight per cent of local respondents also have a personal computer at home, putting Malta in second place after Slovenia.

The survey was carried out among the 10 countries joining the EU in May - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia - as well as candidate countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

Speaking during a press briefing, Information Technology and Investments Minister Austin Gatt said that in all the areas surveyed, Malta achieved more than the average of acceding countries, while in many cases it compared well with the average of current members.

Malta was also commended for a number of initiatives that were mentioned as examples of best practice - the publication of a green paper on spam, the programme myWeb and the electronic identity system, which, the minister said, would be launched in the coming weeks.

Dr Gatt said this report was something which prospective investors would look at as a crucial point. He said some people were amazed that such a small country with a population of 400,000 should achieve such good results in IT.

Malta, he said, aimed to reach the ranking of the most advanced countries, the Nordic ones.

Malta has 70 secure internet servers per million inhabitants, which is higher than the average for the EU 15, which stands at 48.

The report said 88 per cent of interviewees had access to the internet at home, while 45 per cent had access at work. Another 16 per cent had internet access at the place of education, while six per cent accessed the internet through internet cafes.

Malta has the highest percentage among accession countries where internet is used to play games and for music, with 50 per cent of interviewees.

Meanwhile, 76 per cent said they used the internet to search for information, 91 per cent - again the highest - to send and receive mail, 36 per cent to access chat rooms and forums, while 10 per cent of interviewees said they used the internet for internet banking.

Only 13 per cent of interviewees with internet access said they had encountered ICT security problems in the past 12 months, the lowest percentage among accession countries.

Another high score for Malta related to the number of enterprises with a website, where Malta ranked first with 73 per cent. Among the enterprises interviewed, 20 per cent had received orders online, while 33 per cent generated more than one per cent of their turnover from eCommerce - another two firsts for Malta.

22 per cent of enterprises said they purchased online in 2002. And while 34 per cent said they offered goods and services online, 10 per cent said they had received payment online.

The report also shows that Malta has the highest number of computers per 100 pupils in primary schools, with an average of 22.9 in 2002. 10.6 computers per 100 primary school pupils are connected to the internet.

Meanwhile, there are 6.3 computers per 100 pupils in secondary schools.

The report said that 49 per cent of interviewees had used the internet in the past three months, while 51 per cent were non-users or had not used the internet in more than 12 months.

Malta ranked well with regard to affordability of computers, with the report showing that a computer costs 47 per cent of a monthly household income. Cyprus was the only country where a computer was cheaper, costing 42 per cent of a household's monthly income.

Malta ranked second in the number of fixed telephone lines, after Cyprus. In fact, the report shows that there are around 55 telephone lines per 100 people, slightly less than the average of the EU 15. There are just under 70 mobile subscribers per 100 people, putting Malta in the fourth place after the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary.

42 per cent of interviewees said they had used the internet in the past three months to interact with public authorities to obtain and return official forms, while 16 per cent submitted filled-in forms.

Enterprises also used the internet to interact with public authorities - 60 per cent said they used internet for social contribution for employees, 38 per cent for notification of VAT, 58 per cent for declaration of corporate tax and 16 per cent for declaration of VAT.

Only two per cent of interviewees said they do not use the internet because an internet connection is too expensive, while three per cent said that computers are too expensive. 11 per cent said they do not know how to use a computer, five per cent do not have an access device at home and 29 per cent said the content is not useful.