Indonesian Net user rate lowest in Asia: Survey

Indonesian Net user rate lowest in Asia: Survey

JAKARTA (JP): Singapore leads the Asian economies in adopting
the Internet as the new medium of communication, while Indonesia
has the lowest Internet penetration rate, according to
an international survey of Internet usage conducted by AC
Nielsen.

The AC Nielsen NetWatch survey, conducted in 16 countries and
covering almost 150,000 respondents, found that one in every four
Singaporeans is a regular user of the Internet.

Hong Kong, Singapore's main rival as the regional
communications hub, achieved only half that Internet penetration
rate.

Of the other countries surveyed, Taiwan has 12 percent usage
whereas China reached only 2.9 percent in its major business
centers of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Among the newly industrialized countries, Indonesia has the
lowest rate of 1.2 percent, Thailand 1.5 percent, and Philippines
2 percent.

Malaysia achieved 6.3 percent, the result of heavy
infrastructural investment by the Mahathir government in recent
years.

Australia is the only other Asia Pacific country to achieve a
25 percent Internet penetration rate.

Singapore's Net edge over Hong Kong is even greater looking at
the typical user profile. While both cities have professionals
and students as the main user groups, 58 percent of PMEBs
(professionals, managers, executives, businesspeople) and 54
percent of students in Singapore use the Net, substantially above
the 44 percent and 34 percent respectively in Hong Kong.

"Singapore is the star performer in Asia, in the same league
as leading edge countries like Canada (38 percent), the U.S. (25
percent), Australia (25 percent) and New Zealand (24 percent),
and well ahead of leading European economies like Germany (14
percent)," said Steve Garton, AC Nielsen's director of Media
Services.

"These findings will have tremendous policy implications for
governments in the region getting serious about using e-commerce
to further benefit from global trade," Garton said.

"Singapore is leading the region in the race to build a
knowledge-based economy moving into the new millennium, with
today's students being tomorrow's professionals, managers,
executives and businesspeople."

In Indonesia, males are the predominant users with 1.4 percent
compared to 0.9 percent of females. PMEBs are the highest users
of the Internet with 14 percent penetration followed by students
at 12 percent penetration. This is consistent with the regional
trend.

64 percent of Indonesian Internet users access the Internet
from the workplace with access from home a distant second at 21
percent.

Most Indonesians use the Internet for e-mail and to a lesser
extent access it to read electronic publications. Other
applications are to gather information about a product, service
or company, or for research purposes.