According to a recent study from French ISP association AFA, there are about 2 million Internet users in the country.
If the lastest figure is correct, it represents a 25 percent increase in usage compared to amounts tallied as recently as July. The amount of time spent online has also increased by 21 percent in the same
period, though cable connection times were not considered in this estimate.
According to the AFA, all of these increases can be chalked up to one distinct cause — the introduction of free ISPs in France.
The study includes all individuals who have access to the
Internet in France includes free ISP and trial users. Companies and local government usage is not taken into account, and neither was the possibility of each individual having more than one access account.
Last year, some 283,000 connection accounts were opened. The rate of increase has also doubled in comparison to research from last year.
Jean-Christophe Le Toquin, Permanent delegate of the AFA, says that the
association is planning for a study similar to the one published on April 1998. This survey is expected to begin next year, and will analyze how ISP subscribers use the Internet.
The AFA is an association of 14 ISPs, including Yahoo! France, AOL France, chello France, EBI Multimedia, Business Village.
Members of the AFA include AOL, BUSINESS-VILAGE, chello France, and UUNet.
