They visit the Internet daily - especially at home. Many of them spend at least 6 hours a day in the virtual world. They are more willing to use electronic banking, pay bills and shop online. They are almost twice as likely to deal with official business online. Recently, they have also been learning remotely, and many of them had their first chance to test the “remote” working model a few months ago. In their free time, they like watching films on VOD, playing online games, chatting and get to know each other through instant messaging, and some are also looking for love... – this is the online daily life of the four Regions who participated in the study conducted by Nexera – the wholesale telecom operator.

Nexera Regions are becoming more and more online We spend more time online and do more and more things online – such conclusions come from this year’s edition of the #RegionyNexery2020 report, which was based on a study conducted at the turn of March and April 2020 among the residents of four regions of Poland (Świętokrzyskie, Łódzkie, Kujawy with Pomerania and Mazowsze and Warmia and Mazury). Many areas here have only recently been connected to modern fibre-optic networks, and in some areas, this telecommunications infrastructure is still under development. The results of GfK’s research for Nexera have shown that Internet usage and its role in everyday life have increased significantly compared to last year’s edition of the study. 92% of residents already use the Internet at home – almost 5 p.p. more than in June 2019. In addition, almost 80% of respondents say they are also connected to the virtual world via mobile phones. 57% of respondents spend more than 3 hours a day online, which is 30 p.p. higher than last year. 28% are online a minimum of 6 hours per day. Most households (59%) declare that they have a fixed Internet connection – for a third of them (31%), the maximum Internet speed does not exceed 100 Mbps, and the throughput for every fifth connection (17%) is limited to 20 Mbps.

“Recently, awareness of the huge role played by the Internet in our lives has increased. This is evidenced not only by increased online activity but also by an increased desire to increase Internet speeds. In the past year, residents of the Regions have used the lowest bandwidth Internet connection – up to 20 Mbps. From a time perspective, however, we can see that more and more people are choosing faster Internet. In many cases, the need to increase bandwidth was decided on even before the pandemic. At that time, residents were increasingly appreciating the opportunities that access to digital solutions opens up for them, and increasingly needed fast and stable connections that were able to meet their expectations. The coronavirus pandemic has further assured them of this belief” says Jacek Wiśniewski, President of the Nexera Management Board, who builds and manages the broadband network.

Residents of Regions chasing digital Poles The role of the Internet as well as its use in everyday life is steadily increasing throughout the country, not only in the Regions. However, these differences are clearly noticeable in these areas - due to their great potential for development. National data indicate that Internet users have been gradually growing in Poland. In January 2020, there were 30.6 million users as shown in the #Digital2020 report by WeAreSocial and HooteSuite. This is 2.3% more than a year ago. According to the same survey, Poles spend on the Internet on average 6 hours and 26 minutes a day, which means a 24-minute increase compared to the previous year. More than half of the population in Poland (56.5%) connects to the network via a mobile phone and 42% use a computer for this purpose. The average speed of a permanent Internet connection in Polish homes is 85.5 Mbps

More and more things are done online Taking care of everyday matters is increasingly moving to the network. For residents of the Nexera Regions, the largest increases concern official matters - over 70% of those surveyed deal with them online. By comparison, only 41% of respondents gave such an answer in 2019. Shopping is also gaining popularity, with 93% of respondents in the Regions ordering online versus 72% in 2019. Online banking is also gaining increasing interest, including the ability of paying bills online by 95% and 94% of the residents, respectively. This is an average of 13 p.p. more than in the previous year, according to the results of the #RegionyNEXERY2020 study.

“The time of our study coincided with the beginning of social isolation associated with the coronavirus pandemic. Such a large use of the Internet in everyday life results, among other things, from the fact that for many people it was the only possible way to perform their everyday tasks. This also applies to the transition to remote work or online learning – 88% of the residents of the Regions at the end of March declared that they already had remote work experience. By comparison, in 2019, 71% said that they had never had the opportunity to perform their duties this way and 20% did not even know the concept of “remote work”. This shows how fast we are changing our reality and how rapidly we need to respond to it in order to meet the ever-newer and more demanding challenges, including the creation and provision of telecommunications infrastructure to residents, businesses and institutions that will enable enjoying modern services and solutions without interruption” said Paweł Biarda, Member of the Nexera Management Board for Commercial Affairs.

#SiećWdomu and #BądźWszędzie – how did it work in practice? Due to many restrictions caused by the pandemic, interest in online entertainment increased in March and April 2020 in Poland. The situation was similar in Nexera Regions. By comparing this year’s and last year’s results, we can see an increased demand for almost all forms of online entertainment, especially watching films. How did we fill our time at home? 90% of respondents used social media and instant messaging. More than 80% watched online videos (more than 20 p.p. more than a year ago). 6 out of 10 residents listened to music online, one in three people made new friends online (34%), and almost the same percentage (35%) spent their free time playing online games. More and more people on the web were also looking for love - 10% of the people surveyed declared that they were using dating portals.

“The reason for such a dynamic increase in activity is to a large extent the pandemic. Many people who so far had little use of the Internet have been forced to see the possibilities of the digital world on a broader scale. However, we can expect that some of the habits acquired during this period will continue in the future as well. This is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that one in five Internet users (20%) admit that, after the epidemic, they will continue to use streaming services more frequently” says Piotr Wieczorkiewicz, Member of the Nexera Management Board for Operations, Poland’s first, only wholesale telecommunications operator on a wide-scale.

“Probably the majority of the residents have seen how quickly, conveniently and effectively many things can be handled remotely and will not want to give up these facilities. This means that both residents of the Regions and Poles will be increasingly open to new virtual experiences and their digital competence will increase” added Paweł Hordyński, Member of the Nexera Management Board for Finance.

Methodological note: The #RegionyNEXERY2020 report is the second edition of the original #RegionyNEXERY study conducted by GfK for the first wholesale telecommunications operator in Poland, NEXERA. The study was conducted in March and April 2020 among residents, teachers, officials and entrepreneurs of NEXERA Regions. The publication is one of the most cross-cutting sources of knowledge about Polish Internet users in areas where broadband access is lacking or limited. The report is divided into several thematic areas. The daily life study (conducted among residents) was conducted using computer-assisted web interview (CAWI). All respondents were Internet users. The study was carried out among residents living in the area covered by the NEXERA network. A total of 1601 interviews were carried out. In addition, the #RegionyNEXERY2020 report uses data from public sources and the analysis from the InightOut Lab.

Download the #RegionyNEXERY2020 Report