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FACT
SHEET #2
IT Use - World and Asia
Overview
• Nearly 1 billion
people around the world are now online. Worldwide Internet
usage has grown by 146.2% cent over the past
five years. Most users are in Asia, Europe and North
America.
• Seven Asia-Pacific nations are in the top 20
countries for numbers of Internet users, three - China,
Japan, and India – in the top five.
• Asia leads the world in the numbers of people
now on the Internet with more than 300 million users,
or 34% of all the world’s online users.
• But that’s still only 8.4% of the total
population across the Asian continent. So there’s
enormous room for Internet expansion, particularly among
the vast populations of China and the Indian sub-continent.
• There are now an estimated 1.5 billion mobile
phone users worldwide, expected to grow to 2 billion
by 2007. By 2005 the global mobile market was worth
US$800 billion. High global growth rates are stabilizing
just below 20% per annum. Most of this growth is in
developing countries, especially in Africa and Asia.
• Asia has the world’s largest mobile
phone market, China, with 265 million users.
Significant proportions of the populations of Taiwan,
Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand
have at least one mobile phone. Mobile subscriptions
are booming in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Pakistan
and Vietnam with huge potential for expansion.
• Children and young people
are already leading users of the Internet and mobile
phones across the world. As young people aged under-18
commonly make up about half the populations of countries
in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, they are likely
to account much of the massive expansion of Internet
usage in coming years. And they are most likely to use
mobile phones, rather than fixed line connections, for
their Internet access and other interactive communications.
• A 2003 Nielsen/NetRatings survey of eight European
countries found more than 13 million teenagers –
especially the under-12s – flocking to the Internet,
up one third in a year.
• A 2004 National Electronics and Computer Technology
Centre survey in Thailand found that more than half
the country’s Internet users were aged 15-24,
with another 10% aged 6-14. With only 12% of the Thai
population online, young people can be expected to account
for a large proportion of growth in future.
By Country
There are few reliable statistics on Internet
and mobile phone use by children and young people in
the Asia region. These are general figures for each
country.
Bangladesh has an estimated 243,000
Internet users, up 143% in the past five years. That’s
still only 0.2 % of the population with Internet access.
This is likely to change dramatically in coming years,
with mobile phone use almost doubling annually over
the last two to three years. If the government continues
to deregulate and to license more mobile phone operators,
Bangladesh is expected to have about 10 million mobile
subscribers by 2006.
Only 0.2% of the Cambodian population,
or 35,000 people, are Internet users – although
that’s up 483.3 % on five years ago. Internet
use has been hampered by poor infrastructure and high
dialup costs. The future of Internet access is likely
to lie with Cambodia’s flourishing mobile market
- more than 600,000 mobile phone users compared with
just 40,000 fixed lines.
With an estimated 94 million people online, China
is the second largest Web population in the world behind
the United States and ahead of Japan. It’s the
fastest growing Internet market in Asia and is predicted
to be worth US$27 billion by 2006, or a fifth of the
Asian telecommunications market. China’s online
population already accounts for nearly a third of the
world’s Internet users, but that’s still
only about 7% of the country’s total population.
China is the largest mobile phone market in the world
– around 265 million Chinese, or one in five,
having a mobile phone.
Hong Kong has nearly 5 million Internet
users, up 113% in the past five years, or about 70%
of the total population. Its mobile phone market is
close to saturation point for the adult population of
5.9 million.
India has more than 39 million Internet
users – that’s 13% of the world’s
Web population, but only 3.6% of India’s population.
In 2004, there were 189 operational ISPs in the country,
but 10% of the ISPs have 90% of the subscribers. India
has huge potential for Internet growth through its 42
million fixed line subscribers, its booming mobile phone
market and the growing popularity of cyber cafes. An
estimated 60% of users regularly get on the Internet
via the country’s 9,000 cyber cafes.
Indonesia has more than 15 million
Internet users, up 665% in the past five years, to account
for 7% of the country’s population. The enormous
Internet potential is matched by its booming mobile
phone market.
Japan is the world’s third largest
Internet market with an estimated 68 million subscribers,
up nearly 44% in the past five years. More than half
Japan’s population is online – that’s
more than a fifth of the worldwide Web population, accounting
for more than a fifth of the world’s Web population.
Japan is also one of the highest users of broadband
and wireless Internet in the world.
Built-in cameras and 3G Internet services are driving
Japan’s mobile phone market. By March 2004, Japan
had almost 82 million mobile subscribers – surpassing
fixed line subscriptions - with over 16.5 million signed
up for 3G services.
Malaysia’s 9.5 million Internet
users account for just over a third of its population,
up 157% on five years ago. Almost half of the 25 million
people in Malaysia have a mobile phone, and that’s
growing strongly.
Mongolia has seen an explosion in
its mobile market since 2001 with a big jump in numbers
of subscribers. There are an estimated 142,800 Internet
subscribers, or nearly 6% of the population, up 376.0
% in five years.
Despite a 1000% growth rate over the past five years,
Pakistan has a very low Internet user
population of around 1.5 million, or around 1% of the
population. There remains huge potential for expansion
in both the Internet and mobile phone markets. The 3.3
million mobile subscribers by the end of 2003 only represented
2% of the population.
The Philippines has just under 8 million
Internet subscribers, or about 9% of its population.
That’s risen by 300% over the past five years.
The number of mobile subscribers has grown at nearly
twice that rate, racing past the number of fixed-line
telephone subscribers to reach 22 million by late 2003.
Filipinos have fallen in love with SMS and send around
150 million text messages every day.
South Korea is the third largest mobile
phone market in Asia, topping the 35 million subscriber
mark in March 2004. About three-quarters of the population
carry at least one mobile phone. South Korea has nearly
32 million Internet users - about two-thirds of its
population and 10% of worldwide Web users. Over 80%
of all homes with Internet access the network via a
high-speed broadband connection.
Taiwan has the world’s highest
percentage of mobile phone users and is moving energetically
into the next 3G generation of mobile services. More
than half Taiwan’s population is online –
with more than 12 million Internet subscribers –
and more than 13% of subscribers use broadband.
Thailand is embracing the Internet
and mobile phones enthusiastically after a slow start.
By March 2004, there were more than 22 million mobile
phone subscribers (nearly 40% of the population) and
nearly 12 million Internet users (12%). A national survey
in 2004 found that more than half Thailand’s Internet
users were aged 15-24, with another 10% aged 6-14.
Vietnam’s 5.3 million Internet
users comprise about 6% of the population, with numbers
up more than 2500% over the past five years. Vietnam’s
mobile phone market is also growing strongly.
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Sources: Internet World Statistics
for March 2005 @ www.internetworldstats.com and Paul
Budde Communications reports from 2004 and 2005 @ www.budde.com.au
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