Strong growth in the number of Internet subscribers in the
Asia-Pacific region will see it overtake the US as the largest
Internet subscriber market by 2003, according to research released
today by Gartner.
By 2003, Gartner expects Asia-Pacific, including Japan, to have
183.3 million subscribers, compared to 162.8 million in the US and
162.2 million in Europe. That represents annual growth of 33% in
subscriber numbers over the next three years in Asia-Pacific.
Subscriber numbers increased by 65% during 2000, from 47.4 million
at the beginning of the year to 78 million by the end of the year.
That figure will top 100 million for the first time during 2001,
climbing to 138 million at the end of 2002, according to Gartner's
growth projections. The figure will rise to 248 million by 2005,
Gartner estimates.
The main market drivers are falling connection prices, improved
telecommunication infrastructure and strong pent-up demand to get
online, especially in countries with big populations such as China
and India. Access prices are cheaper in many Asian countries than
in Europe and the US, so subscriber revenue will still be higher in
the US than in Asia in 2005 - $21.2bn (£14.9m) compared to $17.2bn
- although Asia will have many more subscribers by that time.
At the end of 2000, the region's largest Internet market was Japan,
with 24.4 million subscribers, followed by South Korea with 16.7
million, China with 14.6 million and Taiwan with 4.6 million
subscribers. These four countries account for 76% of the region's
Internet subscribers, Gartner said.
China will overtake South Korea this year and Japan in 2003,
according to the report. By 2005, Japan and China between them will
have about 151.5 million subscribers, representing about 61% of the
total Asia-Pacific subscriber base. Gartner's figures for China are
lower than those recently published by the government-affiliated
China Internet Network Information Centre.
The fastest-growing Internet market in the region will be India,
with annual subscriber growth of 44% from now until 2005, according
to Gartner. It would then be the fourth-biggest Internet market in
the region with 21.3 million subscribers.
Further information
Gartner:
www.gartner.com .