The total number of subscribers in broadband internet stood at 4.05 million in April 2016, up from 3.32 million in April 2015, marking an increase of 21.99%. This was due to a decrease in service prices, according to a report issued on Monday by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) on the occasion of the Safer Internet Day (SID).
The report noted that the total number of subscribers in mobile internet reached 26.08 million in April 2016, versus 23.56 million in April 2015, an increase of 10.7%, which was due to smart phone propagation.
Moreover, the number of internet subscribers via USB modems decreased to 3.53 million in April 2016, down from 4.14 million in April 2015. CAPMAS attributed the decline of 14.37% to the high prices of mobile internet.
SID, celebrated on the second Tuesday of February each year, is sponsored by the joint Insafe-INHOPE network, as part of an EU initiative—the Safe Borders Project.
Celebrating the occasion began in 2004 in more than 90 countries around the world to promote safe use of the internet and mobile phones, especially among children and young people, the targeted group for this day.
This year’s theme is “Be the change: Unite for a better internet,” which aims to encourage respectful networking among internet users.
In the report, CAPMAS stated that the primary responsibility lies on educational bodies and families in educating children and youth to respect others and express their feelings and thoughts in a suitable manner, adding that the educated classes of society must contribute to the dissemination of awareness through social media platforms to reach a large amount of internet users.
It noted that government organisations and communication bodies must adopt laws to protect web users from cybercrimes, such as stealing credit card data and tampering with personal data, and that even libel offenses have recently spread on a large scale over social media networks.
