On presenting the research about i2010, however, Viviane Reding added: "A few regions in the European Union are still late, and are not completely connected. The member countries should thus strengthen their efforts to eliminate these defects and to improve their communication cross-border services, as well as the services reaching also rural and peripheral areas". In accordance with the Commission, "in 2007, the Internet attracted almost 40 million new regular users", which would be 250 million today. "In the last five years, information and communication technologies had a remarkable impact on public services, above all, with the networking of education and the health service: over 96% of schools in Europe are connected in the Internet, and two thirds of them have a broadband connection, while in 2001 the percentage was actually null". In the health service sector, "57% of physicians either send or receive their patients’ data through the Web (17% in 2002), and 46% receive the results of laboratory examinations in electronic format": the percentage was 11% in 2002. Moreover, last year, 77% of European enterprises relied on a broadband connection, and the same percentage of enterprises "used the Internet for banking operations". (To be continued)
