The total number of people online will grow by over 45 percent to 2.2 billion users — with much of that growth occurring in Asia — over the next five years, according to Forrester Research.
Asia remains the biggest global Internet growth engine: 43 percent of the world's online population will reside in Asia by 2013, with 17 percent of the global online population in China.
Growth rates in the US, Western Europe, and the major industrialized nations in Asia Pacific such as Australia, Japan, and South Korea will slow to between one percent and three percent.
That is a significant finding, as it suggests most people who want to use the Internet already do so.
Online penetration in the United States will rise from 73 percent to 82 percent over the next five years, representing about a three percent annual growth rate.
By 2013, U.S. online penetration will be on par with the most highly penetrated markets of Europe and Asia, such as the Netherlands, the UK, Japan, and South Korea.
By about 2013, if not before, there also will not be any material difference between people using the Internet and people using broadband, other analysts project. That should lead policymakers to take a harder look at the costs and benefits of any programs designed to "increase" use of broadband access.
The United States is about at the point where non-use of broadband is directly linked to non-use of broadband.
No comments:
Post a Comment