ICT usage in enterprises, 1999-2000

This is some of the main results in the report Use of ICT in Nordic enterprises 1999/2000, which is produced by Statistics Norway in co-operation with the national statistical offices in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.

Access to Internet was most common among Finnish enterprises. 85 per cent of all Finnish enterprises with at least 10 employees had access to Internet by the end of 1999. In both Denmark and Sweden 78 per cent of all enterprises had Internet connections. Access to Internet was least common in Norway. Two out of three of all Norwegian enterprises with at least ten employees had access to Internet by the end of 1999. According to the enterprise's expectations for 2000 the differences between the countries changed little in 2000.

The relative number of Internet accesses was highest in the largest enterprises in all the Nordic countries. Among enterprises with at least 50 employees the Internet penetration rate was not much lower in Norway than in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. The difference was larger among enterprises with 10-49 employees. In Norwegian enterprises with 10-49 employees the Internet penetration rate was approximately 15 per cent lower than among corresponding Danish, Finnish and Swedish enterprises.

The distribution of home pages was most frequent in Sweden. 57 per cent of all Swedish enterprises with at least 10 employees had established a home page by the end of 1999. Norwegian enterprises used home pages less frequently. Only 35 per cent of all Norwegian enterprises had established a home page. According to the enterprise's expectations the number of home pages increased sharply in the Nordic countries in 2000.

In respectively Denmark and Finland 19 and 17 per cent of all enterprises with at least 10 employees had the possibility to receive orders via home pages by the end of 1999. The corresponding numbers for Sweden and Norway were respectively 14 and 12 per cent.

However, the volumes of electronic commerce were still small in the Nordic countries. Finland and Sweden had the highest share of enterprises with turnover from electronic commerce. Respectively 8 and 7 per cent of all enterprises with at least 10 employees in Finland and Sweden, received at least 2 per cent of total turnover from orders via the Internet in 1999.

5 per cent of all enterprises in Denmark and Norway acquired at least 2 per cent of their turnover from electronic commerce. A lot of enterprises with the possibility to receive orders via the Internet thus received a very small part of total turnover from such orders.

In the spring of 2000 Statistics Norway published results that described the use of ICT in Norwegian enterprises in 1999. That publication used another framework than the report Use of ICT in Nordic enterprises 1999/2000 and thus the results presented here will be somewhat different.

For more information, contact; jan-erik.lystad@ssb.no , phone +47 62 88 54 10, erik.sverrbo@ssb.no , phone +47 62 88 52 09 or geir.martin.pilskog@ssb.no , phone +47 62 88 54 24.

Tables:

• Table 1 Share of all enterprises with Internet. 1999-2000. Per cent
• Table 2 Share of all enterprises with Internet access. Distributed by employment. 1999. Per cent
• Table 3 Share of all enterprises with home page. 1999-2000. Per cent