Logic Communications has overtaken North Rock in the Internet Service Provider (ISP) market and now has just under 50 percent of the market in Bermuda, according to an independent survey on Internet access and communications.

The survey, which was conducted by Total Research Associates Ltd. and overseas research firm Corporate Research Associates Inc., polled a random sample of 400 residents aged 18 or over between September 1 and 14 on a range of subjects from Internet access and high speed service/Broadband providers to ISP market share and social networking.

The study showed that while Logic and Transact/Fort Knox had improved their market share, North Rock Communications had seen a decline in numbers from 45 percent in March 2004 to 32 percent in September 2009, versus an increase of 38 percent to 47 percent for Logic over the same period, two percent to 10 percent for Transact and five percent to six percent for Fort Knox. Transact and Fort Knox merged to form FKB Transact last year.

"It shows that we are heading in the right direction," said Paul Coleman, vice-president of marketing at Logic. "We ask customers why they are with us and the number one factor is customer service - either the customer had a first-hand experience or they have been referred by an existing customer.

"We have also won the top ISP award in Bermuda this year.

"I think that we have tried to go in a different direction to our competitors - after all, we never wanted to compete on their terms, but rather to set our own standards to aspire to and focus on our strengths."

The quarterly survey, which has been carried out for the past 10 years via telephone, also found that BTC DSL accounted for 44 percent of the high-speed Broadband service provider market, with CableVision cable modem and North Rock wireless the next closest at 21 percent and 19 percent respectively.

The minority share of the market was made up of CellularOne The Bull (five percent), M3 easyConnect (four percent), Logic (three percent) and other (one percent).

The majority of respondents (87 percent) reported having access to the Internet at home, with younger and higher household income residents most likely to have the service, up from 64 percent in March 2001.

Broken down by race, white residents were more likely to have Internet access at home (93 percent) than black residents (83 percent), a figure which has risen from 68 percent and 56 percent respectively since September 2000.

Furthermore, 85 percent of residents used high-speed Broadband to access the Internet at home, while 11 percent employed the services of dial-up - mainly older/black residents, Bermudians and those on a lower income.

To better understand Internet usage, participants were also asked which types of social networking services they used, with half of residents signing up to Facebook, 72 percent of whom were aged between 18 and 34. In comparison, usage of LinkedIn (five percent), Twitter (five percent) and MySpace (five percent) was minimal.