Asia - Internet

Synopsis

Asia is the world’s largest regional Internet market, measured by users. The number of Internet users in the region was estimated to have reached 560 million by mid-2007 out of a total global Internet user population estimated at 1.4 billion. Although the market is starting to change, Internet development in Asia has been dominated for a long time by Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. China and India have joined this group. For a number of years the developing economies of the region have had considerably slower growth, as they dealt with high access costs, poor infrastructure and the slow pace of deregulation. But this is changing, given the widespread recognition among governments, business sectors and the wider population that not being online severely limits the potential for achieving enormous social and economic benefits. This report provides an overview of the Internet market in Asia.