16.1.13

Mobile Internet in Europe

Almost one quarter of Europeans used mobile phones to access Internet in 2012
EUROSTAT, the EU's statistical service, has recently published some interesting statistics on mobile Internet use in Europe (EUROSTAT. 2012. Devices used for mobile connection to the Internet. isoc_cimobi_dev).

The five statistics look at two aspects of mobility and the Internet. First, the level of Internet connectivity of mobile devices: laptop, notebook, netbook and tablet computers and handheld devices (Internet-enabled mobile phones). Second, whether a mobile network is used to connect these devices to the Internet.
Click to enlarge
In terms of using handheld devices to connect to the Internet, Nordic countries are ranked among the top five with Luxembourg at third. There is a huge gap in penetration ranging from 3 in 5 Swedes using handheld devices to access the Internet to just six percent of Romanians. It is surprising that poorer EU members such as Bulgaria and Romania have the lowest rates of handset Internet access given that fixed line broadband penetration is relatively low in those countries. One inhibiting factor might be the higher relative cost of smartphones.

Another interesting factor is the relatively high use of non-mobile cellular networks to access the Internet from handheld devices. Although it is not explicitly mentioned, it seems pretty likely that if a cellular network is not used to access the Internet from a handheld device, then Wi-Fi is being used. Around a fifth of Europeans use Wi-Fi and not mobile cellular networks to access the Internet on their mobile phones. Wi-Fi access accounts for almost half of handset Internet access in several countries and the majority of access in Cyprus, the Czech Republic and Italy. In a future post, mobile broadband prices will be examined as a possible factor for prefering Wi-Fi over cellular networks for handset Internet access.

Individuals using handheld device to access Internet by type of Internet access, 2012
ictDATA.org adapted from Eurostat (Click to enlarge)
It is interesting to contrast the survey data with administrative data on mobile broadband subscriptions.  The European Commission publishes broadband subscription data (http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/sites/digital-agenda/files/cocom_broadband_july_2011.pdf). At the time of writing the latest available data was from July 2011.  Even though the subscription data are from a year earlier, the number of subscriptions is almost twice as much as the number of people who say they use the Internet from mobile devices over mobile networks. Either users may have more than one subscription or users have a mobile broadband subscription but do not access the Internet or the subscription data are overstated. Another possibility might be age; the survey data are based on ages 16-74 so they exclude younger teens. But even including those aged 10-14 and assuming they use the Internet from mobile devices at the same rate would only add another seven million people. In any case, there is a recurrent problem with mobile broadband subscriptions not reflecting survey data on actual Internet use from mobile phones.

Internet access from mobile devices and mobile broadband subscriptions, European Union


Individuals using the mobile phone network to connect mobile devices, 2012

Mobile broadband subscriptions, July 2011

Handheld device
Portable computer
All mobile devices

Handheld device
Dedicated data service cards/modems/keys
All active users                 

%
000s
%
000s
%
000s
%
000s
%
000s
%
000s
European Union
19

63,818   
9

30,230   
28

94,048   
34.6
 136,241   
7.5
 37,800   
34.6
 174,042   
Austria
32
 1,821   
21
 1,195   
53
 3,015   
13.1
 1,105   
19.8
 1,667   
33.0
 2,772   
Belgium
16
 1,160   
7
 508   
23
 1,668   
13.4
 1,463   
2.6
 281   
16.0
 1,744   
Bulgaria
4
 201   
4
 201   
8
 403   
9.8
 734   
3.0
 224   
12.8
 957   
Cyprus
6
 36   
2
 12   
8
 47   
37.6
 302   
3.1
 25   
40.6
 327   
Czech Rep.
3
 220   
4
 293   
7
 513   
43.1
 4,536   
4.9
 514   
47.9
 5,050   
Denmark
39
 1,416   
3
 109   
42
 1,525   
57.4
 3,190   
15.2
 846   
72.6
 4,036   
Estonia
12
 109   
14
 127   
26
 236   
28.8
 385   
8.2
 110   
36.9
 495   
Finland
40
 1,419    
25
 887   
65
 2,305   
44.6
 2,397   
34.0
 1,825   
78.6
 4,223   
France
30
 12,628   
7
 2,947   
37
 15,575   
24.8
 16,120   
4.4
 2,880   
29.2
 19,000   
Germany
20
 10,793   
13
 7,016   
33
 17,809   
23.1
 18,900   
6.0
 4,900   
29.1
 23,800   
Greece
9
 675   
4
 300   
13
 976   
24.2
 2,746   
2.8
 322   
27.1
 3,068   
Hungary
9
 617   
7
 480   
16
 1,097   
4.0
 402   
5.4
 541   
9.4
 943   
Ireland
17
 522   
8
 246   
25
 768   
39.3
 1,761   
13.0
 584   
52.3
 2,344   
Italy
5
 1,991   
6
 2,389   
11
 4,379   
19.0
 11,502   
9.6
 5,803   
28.5
 17,305   
Latvia
14
 196   
9
 126   
23
 322   
23.6
 527   
2.6
 59   
26.3
 586   
Lithuania
12
 246   
5
 103   
17
 349   
9.8
 318   
6.8
 221   
16.6
 539   
Luxembourg
35
 123   
17
 60   
52
 182   
42.8
 219   
5.6
 29   
48.4
 248   
Malta
16
 46   
11
 32   
27
 78   
8.7
 36   
3.2
 13   
11.9
 50   
Netherlands
39
 4,350   
5
 558   
44
 4,908   
34.7
 5,783   
4.6
 768   
39.3
 6,551   
Poland
11
 3,023   
8
 2,199   
19
 5,222   
32.2
 12,291   
8.2
 3,118   
40.3
 15,409   
Portugal
10
 698   
10
 698   
20
 1,396   
25.4
 2,702   
11.1
 1,181   
36.5
 3,883   
Romania
4
 600   
4
 600   
8
 1,199   
6.7
 1,437   
4.8
 1,032   
11.5
 2,469   
Slovakia
14
 544   
11
 427   
25
 971   
20.8
 1,130   
7.1
 386   
27.9
 1,516   
Slovenia
17
 241   
5
 71   
22
 312   
25.9
 531   
2.6
 53   
28.5
 584   
Spain
25
 7,828   
10
 3,131   
35
 10,959   
33.6
 15,495   
7.6
 3,503   
41.2
 18,998   
Sweden
56
 3,423   
34
 2,079   
90
 5,502   
72.7
 6,846   
20.2
 1,906   
92.9
 8,752   














United Kingdom†
37
 15,236   
31
 12,889   
68
 28,124   
37.5
 23,384   
8.0
 5,010   
45.5
 28,394   
Note:  Survey data are for ages 16-74; however estimates of the number of individuals are based on ages 15-64. Both data sets adapted from Eurostat. † National data, 2011; refers to all Internet access and not just from mobile phone network. Note that as a result of the UK data using a different methodology the survey data totals for the European Union are based on the aggregate EU usage figure (provided by Eurostat) and not the sum of the individual country data.
Source: Adapted by ICTData.org

Updated 23 January 2013.





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