Information technologies and society: A report on the development of the Russian Internet sector presented

At the enlarged meeting of the Board of the Ministry of Communications of Russia which took place on May 15, 2012 in the framework of the exhibition “CSTB 2012”, director of the Russia Association of electronic communications (RAEC) Sergei Plugotarenko presented a report on development of the Russian Internet sector and its contribution to the economy of the country.

According to him, today 50% of the adult population of Russia use Internet every month, that is about 57, 8 million of people. The daytime audience of the Runet is 44, 3 million people, that is 38% of all adult residents of the country. 76% of the total Runet audience use Internet every day. The majority of users (70%) join the network via broadband access, but mobile access is also popular (34%).

In spite so significant values, the Internet coverage in Russia is so far lower than in most European countries – 49% versus European average index at 78%. However, the size of the Runet national audience surpasses all European countries, taking 6th place in the world – after China, the USA, Japan, India and Brazil. There is a big interest outside – more than 80 million people from different countries visit Runet sites monthly.

Runet continues to demonstrate the growth in the regions, the annual growth of the audience was 16%, the highest rates are in Ural (5, 2 million of users, that is 30%) and the Far East region (2,9 million of users, that is 26%) of the federal district. It is worth noting that the mobile Internet audience is growing twice as fast as the stationary one: every third user uses Internet mobile access once a month (applies to cities with a population more than 100 thousand of people), and every fifth user – daily. Every second user from “mobile” users “is armed” with a smart phone, while every fifteenth uses tablets.

According to the forecasts, by the end of 2014 the number of Internet users in Russia will make about 80 million people – that is 71% of the country’s population aged over 18.