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Net fails to catch French

Computer
The French are confused by the web, report says  


PARIS, France -- A government inquiry has shown the Internet is failing to catch on in France, with only 20 percent of the population logging on in their homes.

A report by the Ministry of Finance, Economy and Industry has revealed one in five regularly connect to the Internet at home, compared with one in 12 in 1999.

In Britain, the number of homes with online connections has tripled in those two years, with 37 percent of homes online by 2001, compared to one in eight in 1999.

The French appear to be far keener on mobile phones -- by May 2001 over half used mobiles, but only a quarter owned a PC.

And only six percent of the French population envisage going online at home in the coming year, and over half of those questioned could not see the point of getting connected at all.

Two years ago, 19 percent envisaged logging on from home within the coming 12 months.

Although one in three have gone online at least once, it still seems the Internet is taking off slowly in France.

All in all, only 22 percent of the French use the Internet at least once a week, and half of those go online daily.

According to the report, those with higher wages and university education are the most interested -- 48 percent of those whose monthly earnings exceed 20,000 francs (about $28,000) regularly log on from home.

But three quarters of those who take home less than 7,500 francs (about $10,500) do not foresee connecting at all.

And a staggering 90 percent of the population aged over 65 envisage never going online.

Men seem to be more interested to log on than women, with 24 percent of men connecting compared to 18 percent of women. A massive 70 percent of females aged over 35 do not see the point of going online at all.

The report concludes the main reason the French are failing to connect is they simply do not know how the Internet works. Thirty-seven percent of those who own a PC say it is just too complicated to go online.







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• The report in full (in French)

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