Internet users double but few make online purchases

JAKARTA (JP): The number of Indonesia's individual Internet users doubled to two million people in 2000 according to a survey conducted by the Association of Indonesian Internet Service Providers (APJII) in collaboration with the Indonesian Internet Business Community.

From this data, APJII estimates that the number will double each year.

The growth in Internet users reflects the improvement in Internet access in the country, the survey said, although it found that only a few of the users engaged in e-commerce transactions.

According to the survey, which was based on a field study and interviews with 1,500 respondents in 10 of the country's cities, there are 55 active ISPs out of the 147 providers that had been given licenses as of March this year.

Approximately 18 percent of the active ISPs controls 80 percent of the Internet market, the association said in the survey.

The survey also said that of the 88.4 percent of respondents who were familiar with online transactions, only 16.3 percent of them used the Internet for making purchases, citing faster access, practicality, time-cost efficiency, and lower costs for doing so.

The remaining 83 percent were unwilling to undertake online transactions due to some concerns that their credit cards might be misused, or that there was no guarantee that the goods would be delivered, it added.

Separately, the survey found only 16 percent of total respondents had engaged in internet banking, with this 16 percent citing that internet banking was practical, easy to use, time- cost efficient, and ensured more privacy.

The other 84 percent of respondents who were reluctant to engage in internet banking claimed that their banks didn't have the facility, they did not know how to use it or they did not need it yet, the survey added.(05)