Determinants of Internet Use and Internet Penetration in Eritrea: Evidences from the City of Asmara

Abstract

This study is designed to determine the use of internet and internet penetration in the city of Asmara, Eritrea with a view to inform policy makers and societal stakeholders on the implications of user behavior for future Internet related options. Self-designed questionnaire was distributed to the districts of the city based on stratified sampling method. 300 (86%) of the 350 distributed questionnaires were found useable on return. However, only 232 (77%) respondents have acknowledged to have made use of the Internet in the last three months. The results show that there is a glaring difference between the genders; female being in the minority and generally the younger ones and young adults constituted the highest users; majority of users are single with senior secondary school certificate followed by college graduates as highest qualification. In addition, users prefer regular visit and shorter browsing hours and the reasons for Internet use follow the usual trend including e-mail, social networking, information searching and video/voice calling.