Internet usage increases by 10 percent in Switzerland

According to the latest report from Wemf AG für Werbemedienforschung, the trend towards increased use of the Internet continues unabated. The latest figures from the 2nd wave of "MA Net 2006" show growth rates of almost 10 percent among regular users compared to the previous year.
In the 2nd wave, 12,125 people were surveyed between October 2005 and March 2006. Compared to the 1st wave, the Internet community has increased by a further 100,000 users (wide user group WNK = use within the last six months). This corresponds to 71.8 percent of all Swiss over the age of 14. The narrow user group ENK has also increased: 190,000 more people than in the first wave stated that they use the Internet at least several times a week. Compared to the previous year, this represents growth of 8%.

Internet market not yet saturated Wemf interprets these figures to mean that the Internet market has not yet reached its full potential. Although the number of non-users is steadily decreasing, it still accounts for around a fifth of Swiss people aged 14 and over. Regional differences are particularly evident among non-users: While the majority of people in the economic areas use the Internet, more than a third do not surf the net at all in the areas of Lower Valais, Schwyz, Uri, Jura and Ticino.
Usage behavior The Internet is still used most frequently for e-mail (81.8 percent). 71 percent use it for search queries via search engines. However, the third most common use of the internet is to read the latest news, with 43.3% stating this as their answer. 19.2 percent use the Internet to retrieve articles from newspapers and magazines, 17.8 percent for timetable information, 12.8 percent for online banking, 10.6 percent for downloading programs, and 9.7 percent call up job offers on the Internet. All other usage figures were below 10 percent.

The study is available as a PDF from Wemf
viewable: http://wemf.ch/d/studien/manet.shtml