Usage of information - communication technologies in households, year 2007

According to the Survey of ICT usage in households and individuals, conducted in April, 2007, in the first quarter of 2007, 76.9% of the households in the Republic of Macedonia used fixed telephone line, 78.0% used at least one mobile phone, 47.1% were connected to the cable TV, 33.2% had personal computer and 16.5% had access to the Internet at home.

Households with Internet access - type of the Internet connection

In the first quarter, 2007, the households mostly used narrowband Internet connection, i.e. 45.7% of the households with Internet access at home used modem (dial-up), 16.2% used mobile phone with narrowband connection (WAP, GPRS), and 3.2% used ISDN for Internet connection.
Broadband connection of the households with Internet access at home, had: 21.0% by DSL, ADSL technologies, 20.8% by cable modem, 1.2% mobile phone (UMTS) and 1.5% by other broadband connection, e.g. optical cable.

Usage of the information-communication technologies by individuals
Share of the mobile phone users in the total population aged 15-74 is 67.7% in the first quarter of 2007, while in the same period of 2006 is 63.5%.
Share of the computer users in the total population aged 15-74 is 40.9% in the first quarter of 2007, while in the same period of 2006 is 34.1%.
Share of the internet users in the total population aged 15-74, is 29.7% in the first quarter of 2007, while in the same period of 2006 is 25.2%

There are differences in using the information and communication technologies by individuals according to sex, age and education.
According to sex, mobile phone users were 57.8% men and 42.2% women, computer users were 58.8% men and 41.2% women, and Internet users were 60.5% men and 39.5% women.

In the first quarter of 2007, the mobile phone, the computer and the Internet were mostly used by individuals that belong to the age group 15 - 24 (89.7%, 80.0% and 66.8% respectively), and less by the individuals of the age group 65-74 (17.0%, 4.1%, 3.0% respectively).

In the first quarter of 2007, proportionally to the educational group, the mobile phone, computer and the Internet were being used by the individuals with higher education (of which 87.6% were using mobile phone, 69.9% were using computer, 55.1% were using Internet), and less by the individuals with primary and lower secondary education (45.2%, 24.6%, 18.8% respectively).

Purpose of the Internet usage in the first quarter, 2007

92.5% of the persons aged 15-74 that used the Internet in the last three months were using Internet for communication, for example receiving/sending e-mails (82.1%), for communication like Chat, Mirc, ICQ, MSN (52.4%), telephoning (33.4%).
Of the Internet users in this period, 84.0% were searching information and requesting on-net services, mostly for finding information about goods or services (50.1%) and for playing or downloading games, pictures, music (49.1%).
The Internet for training and education (i.e. for acquiring knowledge, consultancies and similar or looking for information dealing with education, training/courses offered or following online courses) was being used by 27.2% of the Internet users.

13.2% of the Internet users in this period were visiting the web sites of the government (e-government) for finding/obtaining some information or downloading official forms or sending filled in forms. 6.8% of this population used e banking (various bank services via Internet) or offered/ sold goods/services via Internet (e.g. through auctions via Internet).
The least, i.e. 2.8% of persons that used the Internet in this period (or only 0.8% of the target population) ordered/bought goods or services via the Internet for private purpose. The most frequently goods ordered were: electronic equipment, films, music, books, magazines, newspapers, and e-learning materials.