One million of Internet users in Serbia

Internet usage in Serbia: More than 300,000 of Serbian residents use the Internet for more then one hour per day.
 
The number of Internet users in Serbia is one million. This number represents 13.3% of the country's population (excluding Kosovo and Metohia). Moreover, a research conducted by Cesid on behalf of "Telecom Serbia" shows that even 55 percent of 2.6 million households in Serbia have one member who knows how to use a computer.
 
Internet has become a serious media in Serbia, because more then 300,000 of the country's residents spend more then one hour per day on the web. This situation represents a significant factor in further development of the society, because the Internet is used not only for entertainment purposes but also for the simplification of everyday jobs. Hence, according to Igor Jecl, Director of Service Department in Telecom Serbia, it is necessary to start with a more serious education of people in this field.

Cesid's research also shows that 84% of 3,209 people who participated in the research use the Internet for information gathering and email communication, followed by software, games and music downloads. The most visited are entertainment and media related websites (36%), followed by search engines (15%) and business companies' websites (10%). "Google" is without doubt the most visited search engine, as it is used by even 69% of the participants. This is followed by "Krstarica" and "Yahoo" - each is used by 13% of the participants respectively.
 
Cesid regards the Internet users in Serbia as very active, because even 41% of them connect to the Internet on a daily basis. Almost a half of this percentage (47%) stay online for more than an hour, whilst only 13% of the users spend less then 15 minutes online per each connection. What is also interesting, the percentage of the male users is only for 4% higher then that of the females. 8% of Serbian Internet users are 20 years old or younger, 10% are between 21 and 26 years old, 11% are between 26 and 30 years old, whilst there are 17% of the users who are between 31 and 40, 41 and 50, and 51 and 60 years old respectively. 20% of the users are older then 61.
 
It is expected that the number of Internet users in Serbia grow significantly within the next two years, with this number reaching 2 million at the end of 2007. However, in order to achieve, and perhaps even exceed, this expectation, it is necessary to provide financial help to those who cannot afford to buy a computer. Since in comparison to previous years computer prices have plummeted, this problem could be overcome by selling computers in the same way mobile phones are being sold, e.g., through installments or prepaid Internet contracts. Whichever way is chosen, Telecom Serbia, as a state owned company, will try to provide help in this respect and thus speed up an information society development, says Igor Jecl.