Internet Use in Asia Pacific set to explode

12th March 1997

One of the key pillars of the Asia Pacific Management Forum mission has always been the promotion of the use of the Internet for business and management. As our mission states, the Internet has the potential to greatly improve our access to regional and International business information and communication by reducing costs, increasing speed of access, and most importantly, widening the access to information, especially in provincial centres where information access has always been limited.

Following on our previous item about Internet growth, WebWeek has published a useful article on usage by country and efforts of the Japanese/US owned Nikkei Business Publications to exploit this.

In an article entitled "Asia Pacific Region is awakening to Net", Nikkei reports that there are now over 3,000,000 users in Australia, followed by Japan with 1.500,000, South Korea with nearly 732,000, and Hong Kong and Malaysia with around 250,000 users. Taiwan boasts 200,000 users, and despite the control exercised by Thai telecommunication authorities that has kept access costs high, there are 120,000 users in Thailand. Singapore and China have around 105,000 and 100,000 users respectively, and India and Vietnam are building up their infrastructural support quickly. In many countries users are doubling annually.

While PC penetration is not as high as in other regions, investors are pinning their hopes on internet access by Television which has a high household penetration.

Amidst the optimism however is concern about government control, a poor telecommunication infrastructure, poverty, and high surcharges by local telco authorities.

It is encouraging to note that the Americans do have some sense of reality however. The words of a Nikkei spokesman are deceptively simple and applies to any business trying to tap the Asian market..

American companies stand a good chance of succeeding in Asia if they take the following steps: Forge alliances with local companies; get their products or services to market quickly; tailor their business and products to local markets; do their homework; and plan for the long haul.