Overall, 78,000 homes representing 216,000 people, or 13% of the population have access to the internet, and Quest analysts predict that up to 20% of households in Northern Ireland will be online next year.
These findings place Northern Ireland alongside Ireland, France and Germany and ahead of Italy and Spain in terms of Internet penetration. The UK figure is higher at over 20% while Scandinavian countries lead the field with penetration in Sweden estimated at 40%.
The study reveals a strong correlation between internet access and income – internet penetration in high income groups is six times that of the lowest groups.