Use of new technologies in EU rose in 2012. In January 2012, almost half of all European companies provided their staff with a laptop or smart phone. Eurostat explains that there is wide scale Internet access and use among the European Union population. The European Union Statistical Office has published a report summarising the results of a study carried out at the beginning of 2012 on the use of ICT (Information and Communication Technology), the use of mobile Internet, e- commerce, online administration in EU member states, Iceland, Norway, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. Use of ICT in companies: according to statistics recently released, almost 40% of EU companies have provided their employees with a portable device, allowing them to access the Internet and carry out tele-working tasks. This is the case for 88% of major companies, 71% of medium-sized enterprises and 43% of small companies. Among the companies providing this kind of device, 88% declared that they can be used by staff members to access company messaging systems, 86% providing information on the Internet, 56% for accessing and modifying documents and 45% for using dedicated professional applications. Although the level of Internet and broadband fixed connections was high in most member states in January 2012, the number of companies providing portable devices with mobile Internet connections to at least half of their employees varied significantly, ranging from 22% in Romania, 27% in Greece, 31% in Bulgaria, 78% in Finland, 65% in Denmark, 63% in the Czech Republic and Sweden. 95% or more of major companies provided their personnel with mobile electronic devices for professional use. This figure stood at 99% in Finland, 97% in Austria and 95% in Sweden. Broadband: these same figures reveal that more than three quarters of EU27 households had Internet access in 2012, as opposed to less than half in 2006. The proportion of households with a broadband Internet connection also increased even more rapidly. In 2012, 72% of EU27 households had broadband access as opposed to 30% in 2006. Although the level of Internet access increased in all member states between 2006 and 2012, significant disparities still remained. Internet take-up stood at more than 90% in the Netherlands (94%), 93% in Luxembourg and 92% in Denmark and Sweden, while it was slightly above 50% in Bulgaria (51%) and 54% in Greece and Romania. In 2012 more than half of all households in member states had a broadband connection allowing for different tasks to be carried out rapidly. Sweden had the highest proportion of broadband connections in 2012, followed by Denmark and Finland (85% each), the Netherlands (83%), Germany (82%) and the United Kingdom (80% in 2011). Although the sending and receiving e-mails and searching for information about goods and services remained the most popular online activities in the EU in 2012, other online activities are also very widespread amongst EU Internet users: 61% of them read the press online, 54% used online banking services, 52% published messages on social networks and 50% used travel related services. In 2012, the setting up of websites or blogs was less widespread, even though 9% of Internet users had already carried out this activity. The countries with the highest proportions of people having used the Internet in 2012 to read online newspapers or information magazines were in Lithuania (92% of Internet users) and Estonia (91%), whilst the lowest level was in France (38%). Online banking was highest in Finland (91% of users) and lowest in France (38%). The number of Internet users communicating on social networks was highest in Portugal (75% of Internet users) and lowest in the Czech Republic (35%), France (40%) and Germany (42%). The proportion of Internet users setting up websites or blogs was highest in the Netherlands (17%) and Hungary (16%), which is almost twice as high as the EU average. (IL/trans/fl)