Rabat - Young Moroccans are becoming more and more addicted to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), a new report has found.
The National Telecommunication Regulatory Agency (ANRT) published the 11th edition of the annual National Survey on Information and Communication Technologies within households and individuals for 2014.
Launched in the first quarter of 2015, the 2014 survey "monitors both the trends in the telecommunications market and some of the changes taking place in Moroccan society where uses are progressing, especially with the democratization of the internet and the increasing growth of social networks," ANRT said in a communiqué.
The target population was households in rural and urban areas. The survey used a sample which comprised of 1820 households, including 1220 in urban areas and 600 in rural areas.
The main indicators are collected on the equipment, access and use of ICT by households and individuals in Morocco but also on the use of social networks.
94.1% of individuals are equipped with mobile phones. 13% of them have multiples mobile phones, a decrease of 4 percentage points compared to 2013.
Among individuals equipped with mobile phones, 38.2% have a smartphone in 2014. In Morocco there is an estimated 9.4 million smartphones, up 15.7% compared to 2013.
Almost 41% of individuals who do not have mobile phones intend to purchase one in the next 12 months. 43% of them wish to purchase a smartphone.
In 2014, only 24% of households had fixed line telephony equipment. The main obstacle cited by non-equipped households is lack of usefulness due to the mobile equipment.
The proportion of households with a computer continues to increase.
One in every two households has a computer in 2014, an increase of 6 points compared to 2013, or 3.8 million households equipped.
41% of households have multiple computers. 27% of households have two computers and 14% have at least three computers. The tablets are emerging in 2014 and growth is fast enough to reach 15% of the overall computer market of computers. Laptops are more and more prevalent in households with 51.7% of equipment.
16.6% of households which do not have a computer expressed their intention to purchase a laptop in the next 12 months. 12.7% of households want to purchase a tablet, while 8.2% said they are willing to purchase a desktop computer.
The main barriers to buying a computer in 2014 are no longer the high price but the lack of need (65%) and problems of illiteracy (52.5%).
More Moroccan households have an internet connection. The penetration rate has reached 50.4% in 2014, up 5 points compared to the previous year.
The preferred mode of access to the Internet is mobile connection used by nearly 36% of households. Only 5% of households accessed the Internet via a fixed connection.
9% of households which do not have access to the internet said they are willing to do so during the next 12 months, mainly by using a mobile connection (63.4%).
Households which did not have Internet access in 2014 cited reasons such as the high cost of equipment (47.2%) and the lack of utility (46.7%).
The cost of the Internet service comes in 3rd position, but it is down compared to 2013.
In 2014, Morocco had nearly 17.3 million Internet users (an additional million compared to 2013), representing 56.8% of the Moroccan population.
A large majority of users (84%) consists of young people between the age of 15 and 19.
Among Internet users, 56.7% connect daily and nearly three-quarters do so from home. 59% of Internet users access the Internet via their mobile phones no matter where they are.
The majority of Internet users use social networks less than two hours per day on average. However, the time spent on social networks from a mobile phone is longer than on a computer.
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