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.