WEB BRIEFINGS: Interactive TV to connect Asians to Web

A recent survey by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has anticipated that

interactive television is to be one of the main mediums for Internet

delivery in Asia over the next three years.

It added that 20 per cent of Asian households presently have access to

cable.

The report also found total revenue from e-commerce in China is expected

to grow from US$250 billion to US$300 billion by 2003.

Most of the revenue is to be generated from the business to business

(B2B) sector, according to the report.

The survey noted China's Internet users at 16.9 million, ahead of

Korea's 15.3 million users. Japan, however, took the lead at 27 million,

while Australia's Web surfers numbered 7.3 million.

China is expected to double its Internet users every six months. Its

Internet users presently make up a mere 1.3 per cent of its estimated

1.3 billion strong population.

According to the survey, e-commerce revenues in Asia last year totalled

between US$6 and US$8 billion, with nearly 80 per cent of

that figure generated by the B2B sector.