Romanians mostly use the fixed net for news searching and social media, less for online payments

Nine in ten customers of fixed Internet in Romania are using the net from home to search for information, to read the news and to be up to various events, while 77 pc of them are using the net to access social media networks, reveals a study conducted by Mercury Research for the National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (ANCOM) during October-November last year.

The authority classified four categories for using the Internet: information, communication, leisure activities and electronic transactions.

Besides the need for information, Romanian net surfers are accessing the fixed Internet from home to communicate, with 75 pc of them talking to their family members and friends through messenger, and 71 pc by exchanging mails.

Leisure activities ranked third on the net surfers’ interests, with 61 pc of them watching TV, films and video clips online. 52 pc of the respondents said they access their home Internet in order to play online games.

However, the study reveals that less Romanians use their home net to shop online (39%) or to make payments or bank transactions through Internet Banking (22 %).

A Romanian is using his home fixed Internet on average 24 days per month. Almost three quarters are accessing it on a daily basis or almost daily (90 pc in the case of youth aged 16 to 24). 16 pc say they’re using the home net 2 or 3 times a week, and 4 pc only one time a week.

Fixed Internet is usually accessed from home from a personal computer, with 72 pc using a PC/desktop, 61 pc using the laptop or the netbook, while 43 pc use the smartphone and 32 pc the tablet. In 9 pc of the households, people are accessing the net from Smart TV devices.

When choosing a net connection, users are mainly bearing the financial criterion in mind. The price of the net subscription is important for 66 pc of the Romanians, while 62 pc of them are interested in the connection stability, and 48 pc in the maximum transfer speed offered by the Internet supplier.