Use of internet in Malta still below EU average

Malta is one of the most advanced EU member states in terms of the provision of public services online but both the use of such facilities and the regular use of internet are still below the EU average.

These are the conclusions of a new EU report issued in Brussels yesterday on the results so far of i2010, the EU's digital-led strategy for growth and jobs. The strategy, agreed in 2005, has led to a firm commitment to promoting ICT at EU and national levels.

According to the report, the amount of regular internet users in Malta last year reached 43 per cent of the population, eight per cent below the average in the EU. Out of these, 20 per cent use the internet to view newspapers and 14 per cent to watch TV.

The report also highlights the fact that, although Malta is the second most advanced EU member state, when it comes to online public services only 25 per cent to internet users effectively resort to them.

Another important figure resulting from the report shows that 54 per cent of Maltese households were connected to the internet last year. This matches exactly the EU average but places Malta in the 12th position out of the 27 member states.

The Commission's report describes Malta as well advanced in the information society, with many benchmarking indicators significantly above the EU average.

Broadband penetration in Malta this January stood at 16.9 per cent, below the EU average of 20 per cent. The Commission said that while in 2006 broadband growth stalled, 2007 saw a substantial increase. Download speeds are also considered to be rather high and enterprises are demonstrating a strong growth in broadband take-up, moving Malta four steps up in the EU ranking.

"Malta has continued to make very marked improvement and sits just behind Austria in second place in the overall country ranking for online sophistication (96 per cent) and for full online availability (95 per cent).

The main possibility for improvement is in achieving fifth stage sophistication on some services. Six out of the nine relevant services reach the fifth level of sophistication," the report states.

According to the report, Malta has the fourth highest percentage of enterprises connected to broadband of any EU member state and this high connectivity is reflected in the generally high levels of use of e-business applications.

However, e-Commerce is less prevalent and the levels of internet orders and purchases are below the EU average.

The Commission said that the importance of ICTs to the Maltese economy is underlined by the fact that it has the highest proportion of ICT exports to total exports in EU27. This is substantially swayed by the ST Microelectronics exports.

On a general EU level, the report shows that nearly 40 per cent of Europeans still do not use the internet at all. This ranges from 69 per cent in Romania, to 65 per cent in Bulgaria and 62 per cent in Greece to 13 per cent in Denmark and The Netherlands. On the other hand, more than half of Europeans are now regular internet users, 80 per cent of them have broadband connections and 60 per cent of public services in the EU are fully available online.

In the EU, two thirds of schools and half of doctors make use of fast internet connections.