Expert: Russian Internet audience rises 9% on year to 81 mln users

MOSCOW, Apr 13 (PRIME) -- The audience of the Runet, the Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, has expanded 9.2% on the year to 80.5 million users, the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC) said Wednesday in a statement, citing its Director Sergei Plugotarenko.

Of the total, 66.5 million people surf the Web on a daily basis, up 9.3% on the year, Plugotarenko said at a forum. The Russian Internet audience counted 400,000 people in November 1996.

Three quarters of Russians will use the Internet by 2020, he said.

“According to Sergei Plugotarenko’s data, 86.2% of the audience at the age of 12–24 years use smartphones, while the older category – from 25 to 44 years – prefer desktops and laptops, as well as representatives of people older than 45 years,” the statement read.

“Of the total, 15% surf the Web only via mobile devices. The audience of the mobile Internet gained 12.5% on the year. Users spend 148 minutes per day on average in the Internet and 110 minutes in the mobile Internet.”

Over the past 20 years, a price of a device with a huge capacity for the Internet, decreased to below U.S. $10 that opens many ways of using the Internet and IT.

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