Brussels, 29/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - According to a Eurobarometer survey, average of European households connected to the Internet rose to 28.4% in October 2000, whereas it was still below the 20% mark in March. The Commissioner responsible for the information Society, Erkki Liikanen, said he was "satisfied with this rise, which demonstrates the importance of the convergence of efforts for Europe's passage to the knowledge-based society". The Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden have over 50% of their households connected, whereas France, Portugal, Greece and Spain remain under the 20% mark. The steepest increase was in Austria and Ireland, where it doubled, in Finland and England, where it exceeds 40%. Belgium, Germany and Italy are around the 30% mark. In the United states, the average is 42%.
Mobile phone users, for their part, are also on the increase in Europe, but to a lesser extent. The European average went from less than 50% of households to 55.6% in October 2000. In the United States it is close to 40%.
At a seminar organised by Arthur Andersen, Commissioner Liikanen declared that "the corrections recorded on the stock market by the shares of the new technologies have had no impact on the activity of the new economy". He nevertheless said he was concerned at the lack of entrepreneurship in Europe in this field. He pleaded in favour of the promotion of "the Internet in schools and for the lack of information technology skills on the labour market to be dealt with".