The number of Internet users is expected to rise in 2007, according to the conclusions of a survey on the use of broadband conducted by Metris GFK for ANACOM. Indeed, 9.7% of those interviewed that do not have Internet intend to subscribe the service within one year. Should this come true, Internet penetration in the Portuguese households will come close to 50%. In December 2006, 40% of Portuguese households had Internet access, a 4.7 per cent increase regarding January 2006.
In 2006, the rate of households with broadband Internet connection increased 7.8 per cent, to 33.8%, an increase that is partly explained by the migration from narrow band to broadband.
The main technology supporting broadband is ADSL, with 60.5% of all accesses.
The survey, conducted in December, also shows that about 3.1 per cent of broadband users use third generation (3G) mobile accesses.
In terms of use, 96.4% of those interviewed with broadband Internet use it to search for information, 89.7% search for study or investigation related issues, while 80% use the net to access news. Music, game and movie downloads are a reason for using the net for 54.6% of those interviewed. In January, 66.4% per cent of those interviewed said they used the net for that purpose.
Filing tax statements, operating bank accounts, service payments and online shopping are other activities increasingly made through the Internet, since all of them grew since January 2006.
About 15% of those interviewed with broadband Internet use it to make voice calls through the computer. Skype is the mostly used software for this purpose, according to 69.8% of the answers, against 61.9% in January. Netcall, with 6.9% of the answers, and IOL Talki, with 6.5%, are the next most used ones.
The main barrier to subscribing to broadband Internet is the lack of interest or the fact that it is considered superfluous - for 47.1% of those interviewed, 8.8 per cent more than in January. Only 9.7% of those interviewed consider that the price is the main barrier to broadband Internet.
In fact, these are also the reasons that prevent migration to broadband Internet. Geographical coverage issues, for 15.3% of the answers, against 12.8% in January; satisfaction with the current access, for 9% of those interviewed; as well as the access at work, are other reasons for keeping with narrow band. Regarding the latter, however, only 7.3% of those interviewed mentioned they accessed from work, an 8.5 per cent decrease since January.
Regarding consumer satisfaction, all of the service's items improved, with only 6.6% of those interviewed answering that the broadband access service did not correspond to their expectations, a 2.2% decrease since January. In terms of the service's reliability, 90.6% of the customers were satisfied or very satisfied, 5.1 per cent more than in January.
Customers are also satisfied with their access providers. In terms of access speeds, the highlight goes to Cabovisão, Clix and Netcabo, respectively with 96.5%, 93.1% and 91.7% of positive answers.
Satisfaction with the reliability of the service is also high. More than 95% of the customers from Cabovisão and Clix evaluate this aspect of the service in a positive way.
PT Group companies provide broadband Internet access to 66.9% of those interviewed. The second operator with the highest market share is Cabovisão, with 13.9%.
In 2006 there was a considerable decrease in the intentions of changing operator in the next 12 months. About 81% of the customers say that they do not intend to change operator, against 71.1% in January.
Note on the methodology:
The universe defined for this survey was made up of users of both genders, 15 years old or older, living in Mainland Portugal and in the Autonomous Regions of Madeira and the Azores. The selection of interviewees referred to the method of gender and age, education and occupation quota. The sample was stratified by region and habitat. A total of 8676 telephone interviews were conducted, including 3036 interviews to broadband users, guaranteeing a maximum error of 1.8% for the results concerning broadband users (for a significance level of 95%).
The fieldwork and handling of data was made by Metris GFK between 1 November 2006 and 21 December 2006.
Consult:
- Survey on the Use of Broadband https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=863302
