Half of Europeans not connected to the internet

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Cost, security and performance among main concerns

Nearly half of European households do not have an internet connection, despite the general shift towards home and mobile working, according to a European Commission Eurobarometer survey.

Some 43 per cent of Europeans are not connected to the internet, but subscriptions to fixed-cost broadband and TV packages have increased by nine per cent since 2007, and 38 per cent of respondents pay for two or more services.

Cost, security and quality of broadband remain high on the list of customer concerns, and almost one in five households cited cost as the main reason for having no connection at home.

A third of respondents to the Eurobarometer 2010 survey reported broadband speeds as a general issue. Around 36 per cent had experienced connection breakdowns and 24 per cent felt that performance did not match contract conditions.

The Commission claimed that enhancing competition to bring prices down will encourage more people to get an internet connection and is an important objective of the Digital Agenda.

The Digital Agenda will also aim to address connectivity issues by ensuring a 30Mbit/s internet connection by 2020. At least 50 per cent of European households with broadband are also expected to have a 100Mbit/s by the same date.

Some 21 per cent of respondents said that access to certain online content and applications had been blocked by their internet service provider.

This was also mentioned by a fifth of mobile internet users, but around one third attributed this to the limited capacity of their phone or their phone subscription.

The Commission is investigating this to determine whether additional measures are needed in this area.

The popularity of social networking sites continues to grow, and 35 per cent of Europeans are using sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Unsurprisingly, 84 per cent of respondents want to be notified if their personal data has been lost, stolen or altered, and 45 per cent are worried about personal information being misused, particularly on social networking sites.

The report also found that 98 per cent of EU households have access to a telephone and 87 per cent have access to a mobile phone.

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