Usage of Information Technology 2012

Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the computer usage rate in the business sector was 51.0% in 2012, up by 4.1 percentage points year-on-year. Analysed by industry, the usage rate in Travel Agencies reached 98.0% while Services and Gaming had a rate of 80.8%; meanwhile, the usage rate in the Restaurant Sector increased by 3.2 percentage points year-on-year but remained low at 32.7%. The major purposes of using computers included word processing (72.5%) and databank (60.5%). Proportion of staff using computers was 45.0%, with the Hotel Sector having the highest proportion of 70.7%. Among the establishments and enterprises using computers, 82.6% had Internet connection, of which 84.0% connected via fixed line broadband, and the major purposes of using the Internet included information search (70.2%) and sending & receiving e-mail (69.3%). With regards to households, there were 156,400 households possessing information technology (IT) devices, accounting for 87.6% of the total, up by 2.7 percentage points year-on-year; the internet usage rate of households was 82.5%, up by 2.0 percentage points. For the population aged 3 and above, the rate of computer and Internet usage was 62.1% and 61.3%, up by 0.3 and 1.1 percentage points respectively year-on-year; those aged 15-24 had the highest rate of computer and Internet usage, at 93.9% and 91.4% respectively. With the popularity of mobile phones, proportion of population using mobile phone to access the Internet soared by 29.8 percentage points year-on-year to 63.5%. Among the Internet users, 86.9% used the Internet for searching information and 85.1% for communication; 81.5% of the Internet users went online everyday. Survey coverage of IT usage in the business sector includes establishments and enterprises engaging in Industrial Production; Construction; Wholesale & Retail Trade; Travel Agencies; Hotels; Restaurants; Transport, Storage & Communications; and Services & Gaming (Real Estate Management; Security Services; Cleaning Services; Gaming; Advertising, Conference/Exhibition Organising Services). Data on IT usage in households are collected from individuals aged 3 or above.