Italy scored poorly in Internet access

Italy has fared poorly in providing home Internet access and trails most European Union member states, a report by an Italian statistics institute says. The national statistics institute ISTAT says Italy lags in the number of households with Internet access and scores even lower in an EU-wide ranking of households with broadband access, Italy's ANSA news agency reported Thursday. The institute's "Technology and Citizens" report said 62 percent of Italian households with at least one family member between the ages of 16 and 74 had a home-based Internet connection in 2011, compared with a European average of 73 percent. Italy came in 22nd among EU countries on access, and fared even worse in rankings considering high-speed broadband availability. Only 52 percent of Italian households have a fast broadband connection, putting Italy barely ahead of countries like Greece, Bulgaria and Romania, the institute said.