Martinique in 1999 ?
*
To: "John Charles Broomfield" < jbroom@localhost >
*
From: "Jim Fleming" < JimFleming@localhost >
* Date: Sat, 19 Sep 1998 14:40:07 -0500
*
Cc: "Daniel Karrenberg" < Daniel.Karrenberg@localhost >
"Annie Renard" < Annie.Renard@localhost >
< tld-wg@localhost >
< ietf@localhost >
*
Reply-to: "Jim Fleming" < JimFleming@localhost >
John,
Maybe your group should host the next IETF meeting ?
This might help to show France that you are organized
and intend to try to protect your .MQ and .GP TLDs.
http://www.ietf.org/meetings/0mtg-sites.txt
@@@@ http://www.wwtld.org/lactld.txt
os@localhost (Argentina AR - Oscar Sznajder)
demi@localhost (Brazil BR - Demi Getschko)
ppoblete@localhost (Chile CL - Patricio Poblete)
hsin@localhost (Columbia CO - Hugo Sin Triana)
edgarn@localhost (Dominican Republic DO - Juan Edgar)
jmiranda@localhost (Ecuador EC - Juan Miranda)
ribarra@localhost (El Salvador SV - Rafael Ibarra)
jan.david@localhost (French Guiana GF - Jan David)
jbroom@localhost (Guadeloupe GP - John Broomfield)
furlan@localhost (Guatemala GT - Luis R. Furlan)
erlin@localhost (Honduras HN - Erlin Palma)
jbroom@localhost (Martinique MQ - John Broomfield)
orobles@localhost (Mexico MX - Oscar Robles Garay)
Sean@localhost (Montserrat MS - Sean Jackson)
ymena@localhost (Nicaragua NI - Yadira Mena)
js@localhost (Peru PE - Jose Soriano)
Sean@localhost (South Georgia and Sandwich Isl. GS - Sean
Jackson)
danielsah@localhost (Saint Lucia LC - Albert H. Daniels)
P.Hosein@localhost (Trinidad and Tobago TT - Patrick Hosein)
Sean@localhost (Turks and Ciacos Islands TC - Sean Jackson)
holz@localhost (Uruguay UY - Ida Holz)
oaguirre@localhost (Venezuela VE - Oswaldo E.Aguirre)
Sean@localhost (Virgin Islands [British] VG - Sean Jackson)
pdeblanc@localhost (Virgin Islands [U.S.] VI - Peter de Blanc)
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation - http://www.unir.com
End-2-End: VPC(Java)---C+@localhostIPv8>---C+@localhost(Java)VPC
http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/domainname/130dftmail/unir.txt
http://www.ddj.com/index/author/idx10133.htm
sábado, 25 de noviembre de 2006
Report from the Latin America E-Commerce Summit in Miami
Latin America Will Be The World´s Fastest Growing Regional Internet Market
Madanmohan Rao 12.04.2000
Report from the Latin America E-Commerce Summit in Miami
download German Version
Low PC penetration, high access costs, low credit card usage and not enough locally relevant content or services - despite such thorny issues in the regional Internet market, over 500 delegates form across the Americas and parts of Europe gathered recently in Miami for the first Latin America E-Commerce Summit.
Hosted by New York-based research group Jupiter Communications, the conference focused on regional similarities and contrasts among the 26 million online speakers of Spanish and Portuguese across the globe.
Indeed, it is probably Latin America that offers one of the best case studies worldwide of how the Internet can simultaneously be a local, regional, transcontinental and multilingual medium for content and commerce.
"The objective conditions and people´s perceptions of the Net are changing throughout the region. Thousands of Internet companies are now being created, and the worldviews and lives of millions in the region are being transformed by the Net," said keynote speaker Fernando Espuelas, CEO of StarMedia, the leading media player in the Latin American Internet market.
Latin American growth in the Internet user base will far exceed that of other regions in the world, according to Jupiter Communications. The overall number of online users in the region is expected to shoot up dramatically to 67 million users in year 2005.
In 1999, Latin America had about 11 million users of the Internet, as compared to 48 million in the Asia-Pacific, 58 million in Western Europe, and 109 million in North America.
Access models
Some of the most outstanding innovations in the region are probably in the area of free ISPs, community access models, and e-commerce logistics systems.
Bradesco and Unibanco, the largest and third largest Brazilian banks respectively, are the first major regional players to launch free Internet access for their account holders.
Terra Networks, the recently-debuted Internet branch of Spanish telco Telefonica, is currently a leading ISP in many Latin American countries. Terra Networks has already launched its free ISP edition for Brazil, called Terra Livre. The leading media player StarMedia Network has also launched a free ISP throughout Latin America called GRATIS1.
One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network - RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s.
"Internet access through leased lines and shared devices in community centres - not just individual dial-up access - holds the key for growing the Internet as a mass medium in emerging economies," said Jose Soriano, founder of RCP. RCP is exporting this model of affordable Internet access (now available for under 40 cents an hour in Peru) to Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil, said Sariano. "We are also working with World-Tel to extend this model to India," he added.
RCP plans to invest $40 million this year to grow the community centres in Peru and add services like VoIP (Voice over IP). Local access must be coupled with local transactional content to boost national e-commerce, Sariano said.
Portals and verticals
"Local content and local personalization are key to domestic growth of the Net. We do not believe in presenting a U.S.-centric or European version of the Net to Latin American users," said Adrian de Lop Freideberg, CEO of Mexican Internet media company Libertis.
Major portal players in the region include StarMedia, Universo Online, El Sitio, Yahoo and AOL, and a battle for early branding in the Latin Internet market is well under way.
Universo Online, a joint venture of Brazil´s largest newspaper and magazine groups, has now crossed 1.5 billion page views a quarter - reportedly making it the world´s most-visited non-English portal.
In addition to mass-market portals, verticals are also proliferating in the region focusing on finance (Patagon.com, ZonaFinanciera, LatinStocks), health (Salud.com, MedicoUno, Salutia.com), auctions (MercadoLibre, DeRemate.com, Lokau), e-tail (Submarino, LaLibreria, Fiera, Espanol.com), travel (Viajo), sports (Sortsya, Futebol Total), and children´s fare (Aprendiendo.com).
Dot-Com Bubble
Due to the huge amount of dot-com activity in the region and growing acceptance of Internet business models, upto 15 Latin American Internet companies are expected to go public on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange this year, and another 50 next year.
Cities like Miami in the U.S. are emerging as a major hub for e-commerce companies operating in Latin America; Miami also happens to be one of the most visited destination cities for shoppers and tourists from Latin America.
But consumer challenges lie in increasing overall awareness about the individual and societal benefits of Internet access, and providing them with locally relevant content and services that are key to their personal and professional lives.
"There are also lots of dumb U.S. investors chasing Latin Internet stocks, and there is a real concern that losses on their part may lead to a backlash against the overall Internet market here which will hurt us all," warned Argentinian Wenceslao Casares, CEO of online finance site Patagon.com.
[mailto] Madanmohan Rao is an Internet jornalist in India.
Madanmohan Rao 12.04.2000
Report from the Latin America E-Commerce Summit in Miami
download German Version
Low PC penetration, high access costs, low credit card usage and not enough locally relevant content or services - despite such thorny issues in the regional Internet market, over 500 delegates form across the Americas and parts of Europe gathered recently in Miami for the first Latin America E-Commerce Summit.
Hosted by New York-based research group Jupiter Communications, the conference focused on regional similarities and contrasts among the 26 million online speakers of Spanish and Portuguese across the globe.
Indeed, it is probably Latin America that offers one of the best case studies worldwide of how the Internet can simultaneously be a local, regional, transcontinental and multilingual medium for content and commerce.
"The objective conditions and people´s perceptions of the Net are changing throughout the region. Thousands of Internet companies are now being created, and the worldviews and lives of millions in the region are being transformed by the Net," said keynote speaker Fernando Espuelas, CEO of StarMedia, the leading media player in the Latin American Internet market.
Latin American growth in the Internet user base will far exceed that of other regions in the world, according to Jupiter Communications. The overall number of online users in the region is expected to shoot up dramatically to 67 million users in year 2005.
In 1999, Latin America had about 11 million users of the Internet, as compared to 48 million in the Asia-Pacific, 58 million in Western Europe, and 109 million in North America.
Access models
Some of the most outstanding innovations in the region are probably in the area of free ISPs, community access models, and e-commerce logistics systems.
Bradesco and Unibanco, the largest and third largest Brazilian banks respectively, are the first major regional players to launch free Internet access for their account holders.
Terra Networks, the recently-debuted Internet branch of Spanish telco Telefonica, is currently a leading ISP in many Latin American countries. Terra Networks has already launched its free ISP edition for Brazil, called Terra Livre. The leading media player StarMedia Network has also launched a free ISP throughout Latin America called GRATIS1.
One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network - RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s.
"Internet access through leased lines and shared devices in community centres - not just individual dial-up access - holds the key for growing the Internet as a mass medium in emerging economies," said Jose Soriano, founder of RCP. RCP is exporting this model of affordable Internet access (now available for under 40 cents an hour in Peru) to Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil, said Sariano. "We are also working with World-Tel to extend this model to India," he added.
RCP plans to invest $40 million this year to grow the community centres in Peru and add services like VoIP (Voice over IP). Local access must be coupled with local transactional content to boost national e-commerce, Sariano said.
Portals and verticals
"Local content and local personalization are key to domestic growth of the Net. We do not believe in presenting a U.S.-centric or European version of the Net to Latin American users," said Adrian de Lop Freideberg, CEO of Mexican Internet media company Libertis.
Major portal players in the region include StarMedia, Universo Online, El Sitio, Yahoo and AOL, and a battle for early branding in the Latin Internet market is well under way.
Universo Online, a joint venture of Brazil´s largest newspaper and magazine groups, has now crossed 1.5 billion page views a quarter - reportedly making it the world´s most-visited non-English portal.
In addition to mass-market portals, verticals are also proliferating in the region focusing on finance (Patagon.com, ZonaFinanciera, LatinStocks), health (Salud.com, MedicoUno, Salutia.com), auctions (MercadoLibre, DeRemate.com, Lokau), e-tail (Submarino, LaLibreria, Fiera, Espanol.com), travel (Viajo), sports (Sortsya, Futebol Total), and children´s fare (Aprendiendo.com).
Dot-Com Bubble
Due to the huge amount of dot-com activity in the region and growing acceptance of Internet business models, upto 15 Latin American Internet companies are expected to go public on the U.S. NASDAQ exchange this year, and another 50 next year.
Cities like Miami in the U.S. are emerging as a major hub for e-commerce companies operating in Latin America; Miami also happens to be one of the most visited destination cities for shoppers and tourists from Latin America.
But consumer challenges lie in increasing overall awareness about the individual and societal benefits of Internet access, and providing them with locally relevant content and services that are key to their personal and professional lives.
"There are also lots of dumb U.S. investors chasing Latin Internet stocks, and there is a real concern that losses on their part may lead to a backlash against the overall Internet market here which will hurt us all," warned Argentinian Wenceslao Casares, CEO of online finance site Patagon.com.
[mailto] Madanmohan Rao is an Internet jornalist in India.
Lateinamerika ist der am schnellsten wachsende regionale Internetmarkt
Lateinamerika ist der am schnellsten wachsende regionale Internetmarkt
Madanmohan Rao 12.04.2000
Bericht von der "Lateinamerikanischen E-Commerce-Konferenz" in Miami.
download English Version
Niedrige PC-Verbreitung, hohe Zugangskosten, geringe Kreditkartennutzung und nicht genügend lokal relevante Inhalte und Dienstleistungen sind einige der größten Probleme für den lateinamerikanischen Internetmarkt. Dennoch versammelten sich über 500 Delegierte aus den beiden Amerikas und Europa kürzlich in Miami für die erste "Lateinamerikanische E-Commerce-Konferenz".
Veranstaltet von der New Yorker Marktforschungsgruppe Jupiter Communications, konzentrierte sich die Veranstaltung auf lokale Ähnlichkeiten und Kontraste unter den 26 Millionen spanisch und portugiesisch sprechenden Internet-Teilnehmern.
Lateinamerika bietet sich wahrscheinlich weltweit als beste Fallstudie dafür an, wie das Internet zugleich ein lokales, regionales, transkontinentales und vielsprachiges Medium für Inhalte und Handel sein kann. "Die objektiven Verhältnisse ebenso wie die Wahrnehmung des Netzes durch viele Leute verändert sich in der gesamten Region. Tausende an Internetfirmen werden gerade geschaffen und die Weltwahrnehmung und Lebensrealität von Millionen verändert sich durch das Netz", sagte Eröffnungsreder Fernando Espuelas, CEO von StarMedia, einem führendem Unternehmen in lateinamerikanischen Internetmärkten.
Laut Jupiter Communications wird das Wachstum des Internet in Lateinamerika das in anderen Regionen bei weitem überschreiten. Die Gesamtzahl der Internetnutzer werde bis zum Jahr 2005 dramatisch ansteigen, auf die Zahl von 67 Millionen Nutzerinnen und Nutzern. 1999 gab es in Lateinamerika 11 Millionen User, verglichen mit 48 Millionen im asiatisch-pazifischen Raum, 58 Millionen in Westeuropa und 109 Millionen in Nordamerika.
Einige der herausragendsten Entwicklungen sind wahrscheinlich die Gratis-Provider, Zugangsmodelle für Gemeinden und Logistik-Systeme für E-Commerce. Bradesco und Unibanco, die größte und die drittgrößte Bank Brasiliens, sind die ersten lokalen Großbanken, die allen ihren Kontoinhabern Gratis-Internetzugang geben.
Terra Networks, Internetzweig des spanischen Telekommunikations-Unternehmens Telefonica und vor kurzem an die Börse gegangen, ist derzeit ein führender Internetprovider in mehreren lateinamerikanischen Ländern. Terra Networks hat nun seinen Gratis-ISP für Brasilien gestartet, der sich Terra Livre nennt. Auch StarMedia Network hat einen Gratis-ISP gestartet, der unter dem Namen GRATIS1 in ganz Lateinamerika präsent ist.
Gemeindenetzwerk
Eine der überzeugendsten Lösungen für alternative Zugangsmodelle kommt aus Peru, wo das "Rede Cientifica Peruana" (Peruanisches Wissenschaftsnetz - RCP) seit den frühen neunziger Jahren ein pionierhaftes Modell von Internet-Gemeindezentren betreibt. "Internetzugang über Standleitungen und gemeinsam genutzte Geräte in Gemeindezentren - im Gegensatz zu individuellen Einwahldiensten - ist der Schlüssel für ein Wachstum des Internet als Massenmedium in Entwicklungsländern", sagte Jose Soriano, Gründer von RCP.
RCP exportiert dieses Model des bezahlbaren Internetzugangs (derzeit für weniger als 40 Cents in Peru erhältlich) nach Kolumbien, Argentinien, El Salvador und Brasilien, sagte Soriano. "Wir arbeiten auch mit World-Tel, um das Modell nach Indien zu bringen", fügte er hinzu. RCP plant die Investition von 40 Millionen Dollar dieses Jahr in das Wachstum der Gemeindezentren in Peru und zusätzliche Dienste wie VoIP (Voice over IP). Lokaler Zugang sollte mit lokalem Inhalt und Transaktionen verbunden sein, um auch den E-Commerce anzukurbeln, sagte Soriano.
"Lokaler Inhalt und lokale Personalisierung sind der Schlüssel für das Inlandswachstum des Netzes. Wir glauben nicht an die Präsentation eines US- oder Euro-zentrischen Netzes für lateinamerikanische User", sagte auch Adrian de Lop Freideberg, CEO der mexikanischen Internetfirma Libertis.
Portale und "Verticals"
Große Portal-Anbieter in der Region - StarMedia, Universo Online, El Sitio, Yahoo und AOL - liefern sich bereits eine Schlacht für die frühe Etablierung ihrer Marke in Lateinamerika.
Universo Online, ein Gemeinschaftsunternehmen des größten brasilianischen Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlags, hat nun bereits mehr als 1,5 Millliarden Page Views im Quartal und ist damit das größte nicht-englischsprachige Portal.
Neben den Portalen für den Massenmarkt wachsen auch die vertikalen Portale (Verticals) rasch: Finanzen (Patagon.com, ZonaFinanciera, LatinStocks), Gesundheit (Salud.com, MedicoUno, Salutia.com), Auktionen (MercadoLibre, DeRemate.com, Lokau), E-Handel (Submarino, LaLibreria, Fiera, Espanol.com), Reisen (Viajo), Sport (Sortsya, Futebol Total), und Kinder-Vergnügungsparks (Aprendiendo.com).
Börsen-Bubble
Auf Grund der großen Anzahl von Dot.Com-Aktivitäten in der Region und der wachsenden Akzeptanz von Internet-Business-Modellen werden demnächst an die 15 lateinamerikanischer Internetunternehmen an die amerikanische High-Tech-Börse NASDAQ gehen, mit weiteren 50 Unternehmen im nächsten Jahr.
Insbesondere Miami in den Vereinigten Staaten entwickelt sich zur Drehscheibe für E-Commerce-Firmen, die in Lateinamerika tätig sind. Miami ist zugleich bevorzugtes Reiseziel vieler lateinamerikanischer Einkäufer und Touristen.
Zu überwindende Barrieren bei den Konsumenten gibt es allerdings noch bei der Schaffung eines verbreiteten Bewusstseins für die individuellen und gesellschaftlichen Vorteile, die mit Internetzugang verbunden sind und mit dem Anbieten von lokal releventem Inhalt und Diensten, in denen die Leute einen Vorteil für ihr persönliches und professionelles Leben sehen.
"Es gibt eine Menge uninformierter US-Investoren, die hinter lateinamerikanischen Internet-Aktien her sind und es gibt echte Besorgnis darüber, dass Verluste auf ihrer Seite zu einem Rückschlag auf Internetmärkten führt, der uns allen schaden könnte", sagte der Argentinier Wenceslao Casares, CEO der Online-Finanz-Site Patagon.com.
Madanmohan Rao 12.04.2000
Bericht von der "Lateinamerikanischen E-Commerce-Konferenz" in Miami.
download English Version
Niedrige PC-Verbreitung, hohe Zugangskosten, geringe Kreditkartennutzung und nicht genügend lokal relevante Inhalte und Dienstleistungen sind einige der größten Probleme für den lateinamerikanischen Internetmarkt. Dennoch versammelten sich über 500 Delegierte aus den beiden Amerikas und Europa kürzlich in Miami für die erste "Lateinamerikanische E-Commerce-Konferenz".
Veranstaltet von der New Yorker Marktforschungsgruppe Jupiter Communications, konzentrierte sich die Veranstaltung auf lokale Ähnlichkeiten und Kontraste unter den 26 Millionen spanisch und portugiesisch sprechenden Internet-Teilnehmern.
Lateinamerika bietet sich wahrscheinlich weltweit als beste Fallstudie dafür an, wie das Internet zugleich ein lokales, regionales, transkontinentales und vielsprachiges Medium für Inhalte und Handel sein kann. "Die objektiven Verhältnisse ebenso wie die Wahrnehmung des Netzes durch viele Leute verändert sich in der gesamten Region. Tausende an Internetfirmen werden gerade geschaffen und die Weltwahrnehmung und Lebensrealität von Millionen verändert sich durch das Netz", sagte Eröffnungsreder Fernando Espuelas, CEO von StarMedia, einem führendem Unternehmen in lateinamerikanischen Internetmärkten.
Laut Jupiter Communications wird das Wachstum des Internet in Lateinamerika das in anderen Regionen bei weitem überschreiten. Die Gesamtzahl der Internetnutzer werde bis zum Jahr 2005 dramatisch ansteigen, auf die Zahl von 67 Millionen Nutzerinnen und Nutzern. 1999 gab es in Lateinamerika 11 Millionen User, verglichen mit 48 Millionen im asiatisch-pazifischen Raum, 58 Millionen in Westeuropa und 109 Millionen in Nordamerika.
Einige der herausragendsten Entwicklungen sind wahrscheinlich die Gratis-Provider, Zugangsmodelle für Gemeinden und Logistik-Systeme für E-Commerce. Bradesco und Unibanco, die größte und die drittgrößte Bank Brasiliens, sind die ersten lokalen Großbanken, die allen ihren Kontoinhabern Gratis-Internetzugang geben.
Terra Networks, Internetzweig des spanischen Telekommunikations-Unternehmens Telefonica und vor kurzem an die Börse gegangen, ist derzeit ein führender Internetprovider in mehreren lateinamerikanischen Ländern. Terra Networks hat nun seinen Gratis-ISP für Brasilien gestartet, der sich Terra Livre nennt. Auch StarMedia Network hat einen Gratis-ISP gestartet, der unter dem Namen GRATIS1 in ganz Lateinamerika präsent ist.
Gemeindenetzwerk
Eine der überzeugendsten Lösungen für alternative Zugangsmodelle kommt aus Peru, wo das "Rede Cientifica Peruana" (Peruanisches Wissenschaftsnetz - RCP) seit den frühen neunziger Jahren ein pionierhaftes Modell von Internet-Gemeindezentren betreibt. "Internetzugang über Standleitungen und gemeinsam genutzte Geräte in Gemeindezentren - im Gegensatz zu individuellen Einwahldiensten - ist der Schlüssel für ein Wachstum des Internet als Massenmedium in Entwicklungsländern", sagte Jose Soriano, Gründer von RCP.
RCP exportiert dieses Model des bezahlbaren Internetzugangs (derzeit für weniger als 40 Cents in Peru erhältlich) nach Kolumbien, Argentinien, El Salvador und Brasilien, sagte Soriano. "Wir arbeiten auch mit World-Tel, um das Modell nach Indien zu bringen", fügte er hinzu. RCP plant die Investition von 40 Millionen Dollar dieses Jahr in das Wachstum der Gemeindezentren in Peru und zusätzliche Dienste wie VoIP (Voice over IP). Lokaler Zugang sollte mit lokalem Inhalt und Transaktionen verbunden sein, um auch den E-Commerce anzukurbeln, sagte Soriano.
"Lokaler Inhalt und lokale Personalisierung sind der Schlüssel für das Inlandswachstum des Netzes. Wir glauben nicht an die Präsentation eines US- oder Euro-zentrischen Netzes für lateinamerikanische User", sagte auch Adrian de Lop Freideberg, CEO der mexikanischen Internetfirma Libertis.
Portale und "Verticals"
Große Portal-Anbieter in der Region - StarMedia, Universo Online, El Sitio, Yahoo und AOL - liefern sich bereits eine Schlacht für die frühe Etablierung ihrer Marke in Lateinamerika.
Universo Online, ein Gemeinschaftsunternehmen des größten brasilianischen Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftenverlags, hat nun bereits mehr als 1,5 Millliarden Page Views im Quartal und ist damit das größte nicht-englischsprachige Portal.
Neben den Portalen für den Massenmarkt wachsen auch die vertikalen Portale (Verticals) rasch: Finanzen (Patagon.com, ZonaFinanciera, LatinStocks), Gesundheit (Salud.com, MedicoUno, Salutia.com), Auktionen (MercadoLibre, DeRemate.com, Lokau), E-Handel (Submarino, LaLibreria, Fiera, Espanol.com), Reisen (Viajo), Sport (Sortsya, Futebol Total), und Kinder-Vergnügungsparks (Aprendiendo.com).
Börsen-Bubble
Auf Grund der großen Anzahl von Dot.Com-Aktivitäten in der Region und der wachsenden Akzeptanz von Internet-Business-Modellen werden demnächst an die 15 lateinamerikanischer Internetunternehmen an die amerikanische High-Tech-Börse NASDAQ gehen, mit weiteren 50 Unternehmen im nächsten Jahr.
Insbesondere Miami in den Vereinigten Staaten entwickelt sich zur Drehscheibe für E-Commerce-Firmen, die in Lateinamerika tätig sind. Miami ist zugleich bevorzugtes Reiseziel vieler lateinamerikanischer Einkäufer und Touristen.
Zu überwindende Barrieren bei den Konsumenten gibt es allerdings noch bei der Schaffung eines verbreiteten Bewusstseins für die individuellen und gesellschaftlichen Vorteile, die mit Internetzugang verbunden sind und mit dem Anbieten von lokal releventem Inhalt und Diensten, in denen die Leute einen Vorteil für ihr persönliches und professionelles Leben sehen.
"Es gibt eine Menge uninformierter US-Investoren, die hinter lateinamerikanischen Internet-Aktien her sind und es gibt echte Besorgnis darüber, dass Verluste auf ihrer Seite zu einem Rückschlag auf Internetmärkten führt, der uns allen schaden könnte", sagte der Argentinier Wenceslao Casares, CEO der Online-Finanz-Site Patagon.com.
Red Cientifica Peruana brings the Internet to 'everyone.'
Cabina Fever - Red Cientifica Peruana - Brief Article
Latin Trade, June, 2000 by Sally Bowen
Red Cientifica Peruana brings the Internet to 'everyone.'
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA (RCP), PERU'S MOST POPULAR INTERNET service provider, has come a long way since its beginnings as a nonprofit company. With a hefty infusion of foreign capital, the company is launching a joint venture aimed at making money across the Americas.
"It's a huge leap forward--and quite a scary one: says Jose Soriano, 52, Red Cientifica's founder and current CEO of Red Uno, the new venture established with New York-based investment fund Westsphere. "RCP has grown in nine years from a tiny, non-governmental organization-type set-up with one computer and three modems to a Internet service provider worth US$200 million."
Red Cientifica's growth--$6 million in revenues last year--stems from its pioneering use of public cabinas, or booths with computers that are rented for fees ranging from $1.50 an hour to $15 a month. Soriano believes cabinas represent 70% of Peru's current Internet use.
From its inception in 1991, RCP ran on a cooperative basis. All participants co-financed equipment and had equal rights. Within a year, the nonprofit group had nearly 100 partner institutions and 1,000 users. By 1996, those figures had spiraled more than tenfold.
Advertisement
Public rentals have become so popular an idea that scores of smaller companies, which Soriano calls salvajes, are copying the concept in Lima and in outlying provinces. The father of Peru's Internet, as Soriano is known, estimates there are now some 600 such companies throughout the country, of which 120 are operated by the RCP.
Hundreds of thousands of Peruvians without a home computer now surf the World Wide Web or check e-mail. It is a perfect solution for a nation where the per capita income is $2,000 and most of its 25 million inhabitants don't have a telephone.
"And it's cheaper than using the telephone," says Jaina de la Torre, a middle-aged housewife from the Lima suburb of San Isidro who uses cabinas to communicate by e-mail with a daughter living in Houston. "This is the third time I have been here today."
After years of continuous growth and innovation, RCP took the corporate plunge last December after New York-based Westsphere agreed to invest $30 million to create Red Uno. It is Westsphere's first Internet investment, although it has a wide portfolio in Latin America with interests ranging from entertainment to soft-drink bottlers.
"The $30 million is just the beginning," explains Soriano. "We expect to invest another $60 million within the next 12 months,"
Public web booths. Red Uno will use most of that money to roll out public rentals throughout Latin America. The company's experience and contacts have already facilitated joint ventures and strategic alliances in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia. El Salvador and Uruguay, and operations in 15 countries are expected to begin by the end of the year.
Red Uno even plans to export its public booths to the world's richest nation-- the United States. It will set up in cities with large Spanish-speaking immigrant populations. Soriano also plans to enter the electronic commerce arena.
By allying with a major bank, Soriano thinks he can provide a viable mechanism for "micro-transactions"--the purchase of small items worth maybe as little as $3.
The plan may sound bold, but Soriano has transformed services aimed at the poor into a growth business against the fast-changing background of the Internet business in Peru. Web portal Terra Networks and AT&T, among other global players, have recently arrived to expand Internet services and improve telecommunications infrastructure. Along with RCP, they are currently Peru's only three genuine Internet service providers: other companies offering Internet connections simply resell the services of one of the three.
Although Red Uno is targeting the public cabina market, it intends to compete on all fronts and is even studying the possibility of offering an initial public offering in New York this year.
"We will take on Terra and AT&T but from the standpoint of our culture, our language and our vision," says Soriano. "We refuse to recycle what is organized and imported from Miami. And that is our strength."
COPYRIGHT 2000 Freedom Magazines, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group
Latin Trade, June, 2000 by Sally Bowen
Red Cientifica Peruana brings the Internet to 'everyone.'
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA (RCP), PERU'S MOST POPULAR INTERNET service provider, has come a long way since its beginnings as a nonprofit company. With a hefty infusion of foreign capital, the company is launching a joint venture aimed at making money across the Americas.
"It's a huge leap forward--and quite a scary one: says Jose Soriano, 52, Red Cientifica's founder and current CEO of Red Uno, the new venture established with New York-based investment fund Westsphere. "RCP has grown in nine years from a tiny, non-governmental organization-type set-up with one computer and three modems to a Internet service provider worth US$200 million."
Red Cientifica's growth--$6 million in revenues last year--stems from its pioneering use of public cabinas, or booths with computers that are rented for fees ranging from $1.50 an hour to $15 a month. Soriano believes cabinas represent 70% of Peru's current Internet use.
From its inception in 1991, RCP ran on a cooperative basis. All participants co-financed equipment and had equal rights. Within a year, the nonprofit group had nearly 100 partner institutions and 1,000 users. By 1996, those figures had spiraled more than tenfold.
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Public rentals have become so popular an idea that scores of smaller companies, which Soriano calls salvajes, are copying the concept in Lima and in outlying provinces. The father of Peru's Internet, as Soriano is known, estimates there are now some 600 such companies throughout the country, of which 120 are operated by the RCP.
Hundreds of thousands of Peruvians without a home computer now surf the World Wide Web or check e-mail. It is a perfect solution for a nation where the per capita income is $2,000 and most of its 25 million inhabitants don't have a telephone.
"And it's cheaper than using the telephone," says Jaina de la Torre, a middle-aged housewife from the Lima suburb of San Isidro who uses cabinas to communicate by e-mail with a daughter living in Houston. "This is the third time I have been here today."
After years of continuous growth and innovation, RCP took the corporate plunge last December after New York-based Westsphere agreed to invest $30 million to create Red Uno. It is Westsphere's first Internet investment, although it has a wide portfolio in Latin America with interests ranging from entertainment to soft-drink bottlers.
"The $30 million is just the beginning," explains Soriano. "We expect to invest another $60 million within the next 12 months,"
Public web booths. Red Uno will use most of that money to roll out public rentals throughout Latin America. The company's experience and contacts have already facilitated joint ventures and strategic alliances in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia. El Salvador and Uruguay, and operations in 15 countries are expected to begin by the end of the year.
Red Uno even plans to export its public booths to the world's richest nation-- the United States. It will set up in cities with large Spanish-speaking immigrant populations. Soriano also plans to enter the electronic commerce arena.
By allying with a major bank, Soriano thinks he can provide a viable mechanism for "micro-transactions"--the purchase of small items worth maybe as little as $3.
The plan may sound bold, but Soriano has transformed services aimed at the poor into a growth business against the fast-changing background of the Internet business in Peru. Web portal Terra Networks and AT&T, among other global players, have recently arrived to expand Internet services and improve telecommunications infrastructure. Along with RCP, they are currently Peru's only three genuine Internet service providers: other companies offering Internet connections simply resell the services of one of the three.
Although Red Uno is targeting the public cabina market, it intends to compete on all fronts and is even studying the possibility of offering an initial public offering in New York this year.
"We will take on Terra and AT&T but from the standpoint of our culture, our language and our vision," says Soriano. "We refuse to recycle what is organized and imported from Miami. And that is our strength."
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La Nueva Alfombra Magica: Usos y Mitos de Internet
Raul Trejo Delarbre
La Nueva Alfombra Magica: Usos y Mitos de Internet, la Red de Redes
(The New Magic Carpet: Uses and Myths of the Internet, the Network of Networks)
Madrid: FUNDESCO (Fundacion para el Desarrollo de la Funcion Social de las Comunicaciones), 1996.
cloth, 276 p., ISBN 968-13-2932-5
Available through: Editorial Diana, Mexico, DF
Editorial Diana: 4sales@diana.com.mx
FUNDESCO: http://www.fundesco.es
There are now hundreds of thousands of Web sites in Latin America. You can read the news from any one of many daily newspapers, get on-the-site reports of the destruction from Hurricane Mitch, locate scholarly research conducted at Latin American universities or simply follow your favorite soccer team. Regional networks have been appearing at a rapid rate since the early 90's and "some [of these] ... have had the highest rates of growth worldwide" (Hahn, p. 58). Just as in the United States these networks serve to disseminate information about every sector of the economy and society. The most active Internet nations in Latin America include Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay. A quick visit to such mega-Web sites as: http:// lanic.utexas.edu:80 (UT-LANIC), http://ekeko.rcp.net.pe (Red Cientifica Peruana) or http://www.rtn.net.mx (Red Tecnologica Nacional. Mexico) can lead the intrepid Web explorer into a multi-lingual Latin American-based world of information.
But are the issues facing Internet development in Latin America any different from those addressed in the developing world? Mr. Trejo Delarbre's book, La Nueva Alfombra Magica, thinks so. The book is a guide, not to individual Web sites, but to the political, social, cultural and economic issues inherent in the Internet and its potential and application in developing countries. The book is an excellent synthesis of the work of scholars and Internet theorists, citing sources as diverse as Nicholas Negroponte, Herbert Schiller, Armand Mattelart, Ed Krol, Robert Reich and Stewart Brand. Trejo Delarbre weaves this with Latin American theorists and practitioners including Jose Soriano (Peru) and combines it with examples from Mexico and other Latin American countries as well as the European Community. Don't be thrown by the publication date, although it was written in 1996, the theoretical background and framework is still quite applicable and identifies areas for further discussion that are infrequently mentioned in much of the English-language literature.
Trejo Delarbre is a faculty member and researcher at the Institute for Social Research at the National Autonomous University in Mexico (UNAM) and received the FUNDESCO Essay Prize for this work in 1995 (Premio FUNDESCO de Ensayo, Spain). Using Vinod K. Jain's image of the Intenet as Aladdin's magic carpet, Trejo Delarbre views the Internet as a combination of discovery, emotion and adventure and his work attempts to address the risks and challenges within. The book is divided into five chapters:
1. Internet Globalization
2. New Realities: A Cyberspace Profile
3. New Challenges
4. State and Liberalization
5. What to do with the Networks
The opening chapters of the book cover territory familiar to most, as Trejo Delarbre identifies uses of the Internet in developing countries, e.g., distance education, entertainment, academic and scientific research, e-mail, e-commerce, telecommuting, listservs and discussion groups, online news services, and political applications. He also raises many of the same issues one would see in any Internet discussion, hackers, copyright, encryption, and evaluation of information, for example.
Even in the "familiar territory" discussion, however, he suggests themes particular to Latin America and the developing world and raises the issue of North/South conflict in this context. He introduces early on the possibility that the globalization of the Internet may create new dependencies on the developed world rather than increasing developing countries' autonomy. He raises issues of national sovereignty in the increasing globalization of the Internet and introduces the idea that national and regional information policies are necessary to reduce this risk. He expresses the fear that Latin Americans will be consumers only, rather than providers of information. This may be one aspect in which the book is dated, as the explosion of Latin American resources has partially corrected this assumption.
It is in the latter portions of the book that he discusses issues endemic to the developing world that impact the Internet including: access (information rich v. information poor, lack of telephones, inadequate infrastructure); stratification of social classes; and increasing movement in most Latin American countries towards privatization and free market economies. While admitting that privatization is currently a prevailing force in much of Latin America, he argues for active involvement from the state. Citing the early history of the Internet and the fact that much of the good will that currently exists has to do with the Net's antecedents in academia and the nonprofit world, he fears this may well be overtaken by commercialism. He views state involvement as critical to reasonable development of the Internet, feeling that it can't simply be left to market forces to ensure the protection of society. Trejo Delarbre views the abstention of the State in regard to Internet regulation a roadblock of potentially historic significance, that must be overcome if the Internet is to achieve its full development and economic potential. The state's role must not be overly restrictive, but it must include the development and support of infrastructure; training and development of human resources; and strategic planning, administration and development of national policies.
He also points to the possibility of cooperation between the Latin American countries and views the European Community as model. Although it is not universal throughout Latin America, Trejo Delarbre cites the commonality of the Spanish language as a possible advantage in achieving collaboration across borders.
Citing the work of Soledad Robina, he states that the Internet alone is not going to solve the political, economic and social problems that torment developing nations, but it may be seen as an indispensable tool to improve planning, elevate educational levels and disseminate scientific and technological knowledge. Trejo Delarbre views the Internet as possessing great potential for developing nations, but warns that its potential must be assessed and molded for the benefit of its citizens.
This is a very accessible book (if you read Spanish) and it is not bogged down in either technical jargon or political polemics. It is well worth a read, dictionary in hand. I have touched on only a few of Mr. Trejo Delarbre's points. I recommend the book as a work that raises many of the political, social and cultural issues regarding the development of the Internet, not only for countries in the developing world but in regard to its growth in the United States and the developed world in general. - Lucinda Covert-Vail, New York University Libraries.
If you are interested in Latin American Internet development, you might consult the following selected English-language resources or visit the sites listed above:
B. Belejack, 1996. "Cyberculture comes to the Americas," NACLA Report on the Americas, volume 30 (November/December), pp. 14-17.
R. A. Fannin, 1997. "Internet finds its audience among elite Latin Americans," Advertising Age, volume 68 (December 8), p. 3.
S. Hahn, 1997. "Widening the western Web," Americas, volume 49 (May/June), pp. 58-59.
E. Horwitt, 1997. "Latin America: It might be only 3% online today, but fasten your seat belt," Computerworld, volume 14, number 39 (September 29), pp. 17-19.
C. Ryder, 1997. "Latin America: Internet Opportunity," Computerworld, volume 14, number 39 (September 29), p. 53.
La Nueva Alfombra Magica: Usos y Mitos de Internet, la Red de Redes
(The New Magic Carpet: Uses and Myths of the Internet, the Network of Networks)
Madrid: FUNDESCO (Fundacion para el Desarrollo de la Funcion Social de las Comunicaciones), 1996.
cloth, 276 p., ISBN 968-13-2932-5
Available through: Editorial Diana, Mexico, DF
Editorial Diana: 4sales@diana.com.mx
FUNDESCO: http://www.fundesco.es
There are now hundreds of thousands of Web sites in Latin America. You can read the news from any one of many daily newspapers, get on-the-site reports of the destruction from Hurricane Mitch, locate scholarly research conducted at Latin American universities or simply follow your favorite soccer team. Regional networks have been appearing at a rapid rate since the early 90's and "some [of these] ... have had the highest rates of growth worldwide" (Hahn, p. 58). Just as in the United States these networks serve to disseminate information about every sector of the economy and society. The most active Internet nations in Latin America include Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay. A quick visit to such mega-Web sites as: http:// lanic.utexas.edu:80 (UT-LANIC), http://ekeko.rcp.net.pe (Red Cientifica Peruana) or http://www.rtn.net.mx (Red Tecnologica Nacional. Mexico) can lead the intrepid Web explorer into a multi-lingual Latin American-based world of information.
But are the issues facing Internet development in Latin America any different from those addressed in the developing world? Mr. Trejo Delarbre's book, La Nueva Alfombra Magica, thinks so. The book is a guide, not to individual Web sites, but to the political, social, cultural and economic issues inherent in the Internet and its potential and application in developing countries. The book is an excellent synthesis of the work of scholars and Internet theorists, citing sources as diverse as Nicholas Negroponte, Herbert Schiller, Armand Mattelart, Ed Krol, Robert Reich and Stewart Brand. Trejo Delarbre weaves this with Latin American theorists and practitioners including Jose Soriano (Peru) and combines it with examples from Mexico and other Latin American countries as well as the European Community. Don't be thrown by the publication date, although it was written in 1996, the theoretical background and framework is still quite applicable and identifies areas for further discussion that are infrequently mentioned in much of the English-language literature.
Trejo Delarbre is a faculty member and researcher at the Institute for Social Research at the National Autonomous University in Mexico (UNAM) and received the FUNDESCO Essay Prize for this work in 1995 (Premio FUNDESCO de Ensayo, Spain). Using Vinod K. Jain's image of the Intenet as Aladdin's magic carpet, Trejo Delarbre views the Internet as a combination of discovery, emotion and adventure and his work attempts to address the risks and challenges within. The book is divided into five chapters:
1. Internet Globalization
2. New Realities: A Cyberspace Profile
3. New Challenges
4. State and Liberalization
5. What to do with the Networks
The opening chapters of the book cover territory familiar to most, as Trejo Delarbre identifies uses of the Internet in developing countries, e.g., distance education, entertainment, academic and scientific research, e-mail, e-commerce, telecommuting, listservs and discussion groups, online news services, and political applications. He also raises many of the same issues one would see in any Internet discussion, hackers, copyright, encryption, and evaluation of information, for example.
Even in the "familiar territory" discussion, however, he suggests themes particular to Latin America and the developing world and raises the issue of North/South conflict in this context. He introduces early on the possibility that the globalization of the Internet may create new dependencies on the developed world rather than increasing developing countries' autonomy. He raises issues of national sovereignty in the increasing globalization of the Internet and introduces the idea that national and regional information policies are necessary to reduce this risk. He expresses the fear that Latin Americans will be consumers only, rather than providers of information. This may be one aspect in which the book is dated, as the explosion of Latin American resources has partially corrected this assumption.
It is in the latter portions of the book that he discusses issues endemic to the developing world that impact the Internet including: access (information rich v. information poor, lack of telephones, inadequate infrastructure); stratification of social classes; and increasing movement in most Latin American countries towards privatization and free market economies. While admitting that privatization is currently a prevailing force in much of Latin America, he argues for active involvement from the state. Citing the early history of the Internet and the fact that much of the good will that currently exists has to do with the Net's antecedents in academia and the nonprofit world, he fears this may well be overtaken by commercialism. He views state involvement as critical to reasonable development of the Internet, feeling that it can't simply be left to market forces to ensure the protection of society. Trejo Delarbre views the abstention of the State in regard to Internet regulation a roadblock of potentially historic significance, that must be overcome if the Internet is to achieve its full development and economic potential. The state's role must not be overly restrictive, but it must include the development and support of infrastructure; training and development of human resources; and strategic planning, administration and development of national policies.
He also points to the possibility of cooperation between the Latin American countries and views the European Community as model. Although it is not universal throughout Latin America, Trejo Delarbre cites the commonality of the Spanish language as a possible advantage in achieving collaboration across borders.
Citing the work of Soledad Robina, he states that the Internet alone is not going to solve the political, economic and social problems that torment developing nations, but it may be seen as an indispensable tool to improve planning, elevate educational levels and disseminate scientific and technological knowledge. Trejo Delarbre views the Internet as possessing great potential for developing nations, but warns that its potential must be assessed and molded for the benefit of its citizens.
This is a very accessible book (if you read Spanish) and it is not bogged down in either technical jargon or political polemics. It is well worth a read, dictionary in hand. I have touched on only a few of Mr. Trejo Delarbre's points. I recommend the book as a work that raises many of the political, social and cultural issues regarding the development of the Internet, not only for countries in the developing world but in regard to its growth in the United States and the developed world in general. - Lucinda Covert-Vail, New York University Libraries.
If you are interested in Latin American Internet development, you might consult the following selected English-language resources or visit the sites listed above:
B. Belejack, 1996. "Cyberculture comes to the Americas," NACLA Report on the Americas, volume 30 (November/December), pp. 14-17.
R. A. Fannin, 1997. "Internet finds its audience among elite Latin Americans," Advertising Age, volume 68 (December 8), p. 3.
S. Hahn, 1997. "Widening the western Web," Americas, volume 49 (May/June), pp. 58-59.
E. Horwitt, 1997. "Latin America: It might be only 3% online today, but fasten your seat belt," Computerworld, volume 14, number 39 (September 29), pp. 17-19.
C. Ryder, 1997. "Latin America: Internet Opportunity," Computerworld, volume 14, number 39 (September 29), p. 53.
pioneered the concept of Internet community centres
Emerging Markets, Pockets of Excellence: India in a Global Internet Economy
By Madanmohan Rao
(excerpted from The Internet Economy of India, 2001. Edited by Osama Manzar, Madanmohan Rao and Tufail Ahmad Publisher: INOMY Media Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, India (www.inomy.com) 222 pages, paperback.)
Low PC penetration. High access costs. Low credit card usage. Inadequate fulfillment systems. Not enough locally relevant content or services.
One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network—RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s. This model also forms the basis of the community access centres which Sam Pitroda’s World-Tel plans to replicate in several states in India.
Sounds like the Internet market in India or some other Asian countries, right? Well, this also applies to much of the Latin American Internet market—and delegates from the Americas and parts of Europe gather frequently at conferences in locales like Miami, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and New York city to grapple with these thorny issues. Similar conferences and events about the Asian Internet market are often held in Bangkok, Beijing, Bangalore, and Boston.
In fact, an “umbilical cord” of venture capital and technology transfer seems to tie emerging Internet markets around the world with the more mature Internet economy of the U.S. Hence it would be instructive to compare and contrast emerging pockets of excellence in Internet economies around the world, and see how Asian countries like India fare in this regard.
Let us begin with the most advanced Internet market of the U.S., and then take a tour around some of the other concentrations of e-market potential; this “e-travelogue” is based on research reports from the various market consultancy firms around the globe, interspersed with experiences from the author's own speaking engagements at Internet conferences in over 35 countries around the world.
(1) The U.S.
Despite the current dotcom bust, the U.S. Internet market will continue to be the global trendsetter and benchmark thanks to its size, consumer/business/government spend, core research, venture capital culture, and stock exchanges for raising growth-oriented financing. The clout of the Fortune 500 companies will put them in centre-stage for driving much “hub and spoke” activity revolving around B2B commerce and market exchanges.
There is also a well-established and smoothly-oiled mechanism of research & development collaboration between academia, the government, and the private sector, which will help with initiatives like Internet2. In addition, the U.S. Internet sector also creates significant global mindshare thanks to the creation of an international media industry focusing on the Internet economy; this includes books, trade magazines, TV, radio and online media properties covering Internet developments and impacts (such as O'Reilly Publications, IDG magazines, Cnet, InternetNews.com, Upside magazine and FastCompany.com).
(2) Latin America
Between the Americas and Europe, there are about 40 million online speakers of Spanish and Portuguese across the globe, constituting one of the most dynamic online markets in the world.
Indeed, it is probably Latin America that offers one of the best case studies worldwide of how the Internet can simultaneously be a local, regional, transcontinental and multilingual medium for content and commerce.
“The objective conditions and people’s perceptions of the Net are changing throughout the region. The worldviews and lives of millions in the region are being transformed by the Net,” according to Fernando Espuelas, CEO of StarMedia, the leading media player in the Latin American Internet market. “The Net is creating a new dynamic in Latin America. It is victory for all—how often can you say that in life,” he says.
Latin American growth in the Internet user base exceeded even that of Asia for some time—but Asia seems to be bouncing back from the economic crisis of the late 1990s, and is estimated to be the fastest growing regional Internet market today.
The leading Latin American markets today are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The Portuguese-speaking Brazilian market stands out as the single largest national market, whereas, the rest of the Spanish speakers are distributed throughout the other dozen countries.
As in other emerging economies of Asia, the Latin American Internet market is witnessing a simultaneous explosion of activity in basic access, mass portal, vertical portal and e-tail sectors—unlike the U.S., where these models sequentially evolved over time in the past few years. And like Asia, the average regional penetration will remain relatively low, reaching just about ten percent of the population in the next five years.
There are huge opportunities opening up for advertising agencies wishing to target pan-Latin as well as more local audiences. Cable TV and cellphone markets in Latin America are also growing explosively, offering new opportunities for convergent Internet access and content. Some of the most outstanding innovations in the region are probably in the area of free ISPs, community access models, and e-commerce logistics systems.
One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network—RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s. This model also forms the basis of the community access centres which Sam Pitroda’s World-Tel plans to replicate in several states in India.
“Internet access through leased lines and shared devices in community centres—not just individual dial-up access—holds the key for growing the Internet as a mass medium in emerging economies,” according to Jose Soriano, founder of RCP.
RCP is exporting this model of affordable Internet access (now available for under 40 cents an hour in Peru) to Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil, said Sariano. “We are also working with World-Tel to extend this model to India,” according to Sariano.
And there is of course the huge entertainment potential of the Latin American market. “Latin American music has global appeal. Nations like Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico have always produced more than their fair share of great music,” says Jamey Stout, founder and CEO of music site DGolpe.com. Many more music giants like Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin or Caetano Veloso can now be discovered on the Net.
Players in the Spanish language markets are emerging not just in Latin America but from the U.S. and Spain as well, such as AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Prodigy, and Telefonica.
For this reason, cities like Miami in the U.S. are emerging as a major hub for e-commerce companies operating in Latin America; Miami also happens to be one of the most visited destination cities for shoppers and tourists from Latin America.
Some local players are on the other hand arguing that excessive dependence on the U.S. stock market could be unhealthy by increasing vulnerability of local players to downturns in the U.S. markets.
(3) e-Europe
As the Internet user population outside the U.S. exceeds the user base within the U.S.—a historic landmark which was just passed in year 2000 -- powerful innovations and business models for online access and usage are emerging from outside the U.S. as well.
One of the most dramatic innovations to sweep the access market in recent times has been the explosion of free-usage ISPs in countries like Britain. Despite operational challenges, the phenomenal success of free ISPs has ignited the imagination of telcos, ISPs, retailers, content publishers, and commerce ventures elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world.
And while the U.S. may lead in diffusion of the Net via PCs, Europe has a much greater diversity of other interactive platforms such as digital TV (DTV). In terms of content, sites focusing on European sports like football and rugby have a much more international appeal (especially in Asia and Latin America) than U.S. sports like baseball and basketball, and can thus scale up to global audiences and ad revenue streams more easily.
European businesses in cities are taking on broadband connections much faster than the U.S. More European sites tend to be multilingual and localised for many countries, as compared to U.S. sites which are largely in English only. Furthermore, traditional European media companies on the Net have already dared to cannibalise their own content, as compared to many U.S. media companies who have been sidelined by Internet pure-plays.
Interesting developments are also unfolding in Scandinavia in areas like Internet applications for cellphones, and creative uses of corporate Intranets. For instance, shopping for clothes is possible from Ericsson's Intranet.
“Though the mass markets for the Internet are in Germany, UK and France, the Scandinavian markets show higher sophistication,” according to Even Neufeld, vice president of international research at Jupiter.
With an increase in convergence of communication and financial services accessible via cellphones, a Scandinaivan enthusiast has reportedly remarked that “your phone will be your remote control for life.”
In fact, some countries in Europe such as Spain and Italy are expected to largely leapfrog the PC-based e-commerce phase and directly get into m-commerce. Telefonica Italy is rolling out cellphones with preconfigured Internet access.
There will also be a huge market in Europe for content and devices which don't necessarily depend on a visual interface such as a screen, but can be accessed on audio devices—such as music, radio programming and MP3 players.
European digital TV companies like France TPS and NTL Interactive are rolling out interactive Web-enabled shopping services coupled with cable TV content, where users can view music videos, dig up album and artist information in Web formats, and then place orders via online credit card transactions.
A major issue for European Internet companies is withstanding the fierce competition from U.S. players moving into Europe. A big challenge for players in Europe is scaling up their existing information and technology base to pan-European operations, a feat which U.S. players like publishing group IDG, portal Yahoo, and online service AOL have pulled off remarkably well.
European retailers are feeling market share erosion from US online retailers—for instance, from, Amazon.com which has operations in Germany and Britain, and from U.S. travel companies.
In the U.S., it is easier for new ideas to scale up quickly, due to the larger and more homogenous user base. European Internet professionals also do not have as much access to sophisticated and comprehensive market research resources as their U.S. counterparts, though this is beginning to change as more market research groups launch or scale up their European operations.
Despite Europe's different languages, cultures and cuisines, many observers note that a “European consumer” is starting to emerge from the region's economic convergence, single market and modern means of communication.
In January 2002, the Euro will become the only valid currency in 11 European countries, creating a market of 400 million consumers whose younger generation has been weaned on technology, world travel, and the Internet.
“Because of this, they will adopt more uniform buying behaviour than their elders,” according to Jacques Habib, a partner at Andersen Consulting in Paris.
In sum, it is in four areas—wireless Internet access, integrated DTV, multilingual publishing, and free ISP models—that Europe is at the cutting edge of the Internet economy.
But European companies also face massive shortages in skilled IT workers in gearing up for the Internet age, and numerous reports from research firms like IDC predict shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of knowledge workers in the coming years. Many of these are likely to be filled up from non-EU countries like India.
(4) Middle East and Africa
The concept “algorithm” -- on which much of computer science is based—derives its name from Arab mathematician Abdallah Al-Khwarizmi, who was born in Baghdad in the 8th century A.D. Though Arab countries seem to have fallen behind in the IT race today, some are making determined attempts to catch up.
While the Internet market in the Middle East and African countries is just moving from embryonic to emerging stages, pockets of notable developments are visible in South Africa, Dubai and Tunisia.
The Internet population worldwide is expected to double in the period 1999 to 2002, and the Internet user base in the Middle East and Africa is expected to triple; there will be an estimated 12 million Internet users in the Middle East by 2002.
Dubai has announced the launch of a tax-free Internet City which has attracted more than 190 companies including Microsoft, Compaq, IBM and Oracle. Dubai Internet City has no corporate or personal income tax, allows foreign companies to maintain 100 percent ownership of their businesses, and aims to become a “regional oasis” for local startups.
Notable emerging projects in Tunisia include TradeNet Tunisia (www.tradenet.com.tn), a one-stop online documentation and financial service for importers, exporters and freight organisations; PubliNet (public Internet centres) to increase Internet access options via community centres; “Internet Caravans” (www.caravanes-internet.tn) to take mobile workshops about the Internet around the country; and the Tunisian postal agency's smart card project called e-Dinar (e-dinar.poste.tn).
Areas ripe for harnessing for online global media markets include Arabic music, which is receiving significant international attention thanks in part to pop star Sting's recent track “Desert Rose,” which features Algerian singer Cheb Mami. Popular sites like Mazika.com now feature discographies, fanmail, and music downloads of Arab musicians.
Japanese management guru Ken-ichi Ohmae, in his recent besteseller “The Invisible Continent,” observes that smaller and more nimble countries like Ireland and Singapore have done a remarkable job of transforming themselves into regional “e-hubs” in the information age.
Perhaps a similar approach would serve Tunisia well too, especially if it harnesses the talent and capital of its diaspora and leverages its strategic location between Africa, Europe and the Arab bloc.
(5) Asia-Pacific
With a population of over three billion people, the 23 countries of the Asia-Pacific region represent a rapidly growing and lucrative segment of the global Internet market.
According to market research firm Yankee Group, Asia will have 374 million users at the end of 2005. But despite dropping costs of Internet devices and access tariffs, there will be some bumps up ahead on the Asian information superhighway, in the form of ambiguous or unfavourable regulations, lack of scaling in infrastructure, inadequate investment in start-ups, and management challenges in running companies which have gone public.
Asia exhibits a wide diversity of telecom and broadcast environments, ranging from teledensity-poor India and China to advanced info-societies like Singapore and Hong Kong where provision of basic universal telecom access is no longer an issue.
“Getting the regulatory house in order remains a primary challenge in much of Asia,” according to Mark Hukill, professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Luckily, role models for the Asian Internet have already emerged, leading global investors have taken a serious interest in the Asian Internet, and government regulations on the Internet market are slowly easing.
Three key trends are emerging in the Asian mediascape: the rise of new technology platforms and associated socio-economic behaviour patterns such as NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service for mobile Internet access in Japan, the growing clout of countries like India, Singapore and the Philippines as hubs of e-commerce solutions development, and the rise of the “digital keiretsu” or networks of Web properties via mergers, acquisitions and alliances.
At the head of the Asian Internet market is Japan. “The basic foundations of the Japanese Internet economy are coming together,” according to Allen Miller, president of SunBridge, a U.S. firm focusing on early-stage investments in Japanese Internet companies. Japan is much ahead of the U.S. in mobile communications and related technologies like Internet appliances, mobile emailers, and Web-enabled iMode phones.
Tens of thousands of i-mode sites are available in Japan for mobile Internet access, offering banking, travel ticketing, news and email services via a “portal tone.” Soon NTT plans to roll out 3G W-CDMA services with 2 Mbps bandwidth and broadband content, as the number of users accessing the Net via mobiles exceeds those accessing it via PCs. The pervasive, “always on” nature of mobile Net access will undoubtedly continue to spin off entirely new innovations in online services.
Japanese e-commerce pioneers have also shown a lot of innovation via creation of digital vending machines in public places for downloading maps and music, and the integration of convenience stores (such as 7-Elevens) in the e-commerce logistics chain for delivery of goods to customers near their homes or train stations.
Australia tends to lead the region in early adoption of new media; unfortunately, it has not been able to creation conditions favourable for the formation of a “regional Silicon Valley” in the Asia Pacific.
On the regulatory front, there is widespread community support for government-citizen-industry partnerships for cyberspace regulation in Australia. The Australian scheme has three components: a hotline for complaints about online content, a community advisory and educational body called NetAlert, and codes of practice formulated by the 600-member Internet Industry Association of Australia. Many countries are looking at the Australian model of cooperative regulation with a lot of interest.
The proliferation of the Internet has also been leveraged by regional political movements hampered by governments, such as the opposition movement in Malaysia and the student movements in Indonesia. Web sites used by activists have helped ensure more open elections in east Asia, exposed corrupt politicians in South Korea, and spread environmental viewpoints in India.
“Out of 3 billion people in Asia, more than two-thirds—over 2 billion—are less than 35 years of age. They have grown up in an expansive and expanding environment, and are finely in tune with new media, awareness of outside influences, and a sense of momentum,” according to Frank Brown, president of MTV Networks Asia.
“For a long time, Asian countries like Singapore have been nations of employees. Our challenge now in the digital millenium is to spawn a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” according to Lim Swee Say, Singapore's minister of state for communications.
Another major Internet player in East Asia is Korea. The Korean government has launched an ambitious programme called “One PC, One Home” to accelerate PC diffusion. Korea leads the world in per capita diffusion of broadband Internet access as well as activities like online stock trading and Internet gaming.
Mainland China is expected to become a leading global market in five years. China declared 1999 to be the Year of the Internet. “E-Commerce is the future of business,” Chinese president Jiang Jemin is reported to have said during a recent APEC summit.
In comparison, India is an extremely content-rich country with a very free press climate, unlike some of its other Asian counterparts: the news, culture, entertainment, sports and medical knowledge base of this country can easily sustain dozens of portals and vortals for a content-hungry consumer marketplace.
The Indian diaspora are spread across the world from Silicon Valley and Sydney to Singapore and Southall, and their strong community ties have led to global audiences for content offerings as well as interlinked networks of venture capital and a superb flair for collective international Netrepreneurship.
India's cutting-edge competitive infotech and design skills are leading growing numbers of U.S., European and Australian companies to outsource much of their software development and even customer service to companies based half-way around the world in India.
Indians in the U.S. -- like Vinod Khosla (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), C.K. Prahlad (management studies guru at Harvard Business School), Ravi Kalakota (e-commerce professor at the University of Texas in Austin), Rajat Gupta (CEO of McKinsey Consulting), Gunjan Sinha (founder of eGain), Gururaj Deshpande (founder of Juniper Networks), Sandeep Sidhu (founder of i2 Technologies), Kanwal Rekhi (former CTO of Novell Networks), Sabeer Bhatia (founder of Hotmail), Rakesh Mathur (co-founder of Junglee) and Rohit Chandra (founder of eCode) -- have been making quite a mark in the computer, Internet, academic, and business fields in the U.S. They are now forging new links with their home country for the New Economy—turning a “brain drain” into a “brain bank.”
“Silicon Valley is built on ICs—not integrated circuits, but Indians and Chinese,” jokes regional economics scholar AnnaLee Saxenian, a professor at the University of California in Berkeley who has published research work on how Indian Internet professionals are building technology transfer and venture capital bridges between Silicon Valley and India, paralleling developments in Taiwan a decade ago in the hardware industry.
Having a large domestic user base means India can sustain a lot of local infrastructure, content, foreign capital investments, and an online market in general—unlike smaller countries like Ireland and Singapore, who need to be focusing much more on overseas markets.
But India still lags behind in becoming a powerful services hub like Singapore or Ireland, which have much more robust infrastructure, less bureaucratic red tape, and more political stability.
The challenge ahead is to grow the scope and scale of these targets while also extending the benefits of the IT and Internet revolution to the rest of the Indian economy and society at large, overcoming the digital divide in the process. India will also be hard-pressed to meet the target workforce size of 2.2. million IT workers by 2008 (up from 300,000 today).
Other challenges include creating the right regulatory environment, growing the domestic market, bridging the digital divide, breaking into non-English markets, improving global marketing skills, dealing with the global trend towards shorter lifecycles, and migrating up the value chain from basic software maintenance to full-fledged IPR creation. Generally risk-averse, many Indian companies have also preferred to stick to low-risk highly-contractable work, though this is beginning to change as a new generation of “Netrepreneurs” is emerging.
Areas ripe for foreign companies to consider Indian alliances include strengthening Internet security, data caching, Web-enabling legacy systems, XML-enabled application integration, implementing e-commerce sites (eg. auctions, B2B exchanges), developing enterprise portals, managing content-heavy sites, standardising plug-and-play technologies, evolving WAP utilities, spinning off hi-tech consulting services, remote education and training, and online market research.
According to a NASSCOM-McKinsey survey, The domestic IT market in India is still largely untapped, thanks to low PC penetration (3.6 per thousand people, as compared to 362 in the U.S., 217 in Singapore, 145 in Ireland, and 9 in the Philippines), low computerisation of government departments (Singapore is a notable role model here, thanks to electronic government and the Singapore One broadband initiative; Malaysia is also ambitious in this regard), and low IT spending as a percentage of GDP (0.2 per cent, as compared to 2 per cent in the U.S., 1.8 in Sweden, 1.0 in Singapore, and 0.8 in Ireland).
Regulatory obstacles are currently responsible for higher costs of leased data lines, inadequate interconnectivity between various communications networks, and lack of VoIP services. Other developing countries like the Philippines are ahead of India in this regard; Manila is now an important hub as an animation centre for Disney, call centre for Intel, help desk for AOL, and Java skill centre for Sun.
Due to reasons of much more diverse business and political cultures, it may be more difficult for Asia to have pan-Asian Internet players than other continents like Europe and Latin America, where pan-European ISPs and pan-Latin portals are rapidly emerging.
Asian Internet players are also facing challenges in attracting talented management, drawing on “smart capital,” and harnessing employee strengths via stock option programmes.
And as long as infrastructural obstacles and regulatory obscurities persist, the Internet phenomenon in many Asian countries may continue to be characterised as a gradual evolution rather than a dramatic revolution.
By Madanmohan Rao
(excerpted from The Internet Economy of India, 2001. Edited by Osama Manzar, Madanmohan Rao and Tufail Ahmad Publisher: INOMY Media Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, India (www.inomy.com) 222 pages, paperback.)
Low PC penetration. High access costs. Low credit card usage. Inadequate fulfillment systems. Not enough locally relevant content or services.
One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network—RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s. This model also forms the basis of the community access centres which Sam Pitroda’s World-Tel plans to replicate in several states in India.
Sounds like the Internet market in India or some other Asian countries, right? Well, this also applies to much of the Latin American Internet market—and delegates from the Americas and parts of Europe gather frequently at conferences in locales like Miami, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and New York city to grapple with these thorny issues. Similar conferences and events about the Asian Internet market are often held in Bangkok, Beijing, Bangalore, and Boston.
In fact, an “umbilical cord” of venture capital and technology transfer seems to tie emerging Internet markets around the world with the more mature Internet economy of the U.S. Hence it would be instructive to compare and contrast emerging pockets of excellence in Internet economies around the world, and see how Asian countries like India fare in this regard.
Let us begin with the most advanced Internet market of the U.S., and then take a tour around some of the other concentrations of e-market potential; this “e-travelogue” is based on research reports from the various market consultancy firms around the globe, interspersed with experiences from the author's own speaking engagements at Internet conferences in over 35 countries around the world.
(1) The U.S.
Despite the current dotcom bust, the U.S. Internet market will continue to be the global trendsetter and benchmark thanks to its size, consumer/business/government spend, core research, venture capital culture, and stock exchanges for raising growth-oriented financing. The clout of the Fortune 500 companies will put them in centre-stage for driving much “hub and spoke” activity revolving around B2B commerce and market exchanges.
There is also a well-established and smoothly-oiled mechanism of research & development collaboration between academia, the government, and the private sector, which will help with initiatives like Internet2. In addition, the U.S. Internet sector also creates significant global mindshare thanks to the creation of an international media industry focusing on the Internet economy; this includes books, trade magazines, TV, radio and online media properties covering Internet developments and impacts (such as O'Reilly Publications, IDG magazines, Cnet, InternetNews.com, Upside magazine and FastCompany.com).
(2) Latin America
Between the Americas and Europe, there are about 40 million online speakers of Spanish and Portuguese across the globe, constituting one of the most dynamic online markets in the world.
Indeed, it is probably Latin America that offers one of the best case studies worldwide of how the Internet can simultaneously be a local, regional, transcontinental and multilingual medium for content and commerce.
“The objective conditions and people’s perceptions of the Net are changing throughout the region. The worldviews and lives of millions in the region are being transformed by the Net,” according to Fernando Espuelas, CEO of StarMedia, the leading media player in the Latin American Internet market. “The Net is creating a new dynamic in Latin America. It is victory for all—how often can you say that in life,” he says.
Latin American growth in the Internet user base exceeded even that of Asia for some time—but Asia seems to be bouncing back from the economic crisis of the late 1990s, and is estimated to be the fastest growing regional Internet market today.
The leading Latin American markets today are Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile. The Portuguese-speaking Brazilian market stands out as the single largest national market, whereas, the rest of the Spanish speakers are distributed throughout the other dozen countries.
As in other emerging economies of Asia, the Latin American Internet market is witnessing a simultaneous explosion of activity in basic access, mass portal, vertical portal and e-tail sectors—unlike the U.S., where these models sequentially evolved over time in the past few years. And like Asia, the average regional penetration will remain relatively low, reaching just about ten percent of the population in the next five years.
There are huge opportunities opening up for advertising agencies wishing to target pan-Latin as well as more local audiences. Cable TV and cellphone markets in Latin America are also growing explosively, offering new opportunities for convergent Internet access and content. Some of the most outstanding innovations in the region are probably in the area of free ISPs, community access models, and e-commerce logistics systems.
One of the most powerful access innovations comes from Peru, where the Rede Cientifica Peruana (Peruvian Scientific Network—RCP) pioneered the concept of Internet community centres in the early 1990s. This model also forms the basis of the community access centres which Sam Pitroda’s World-Tel plans to replicate in several states in India.
“Internet access through leased lines and shared devices in community centres—not just individual dial-up access—holds the key for growing the Internet as a mass medium in emerging economies,” according to Jose Soriano, founder of RCP.
RCP is exporting this model of affordable Internet access (now available for under 40 cents an hour in Peru) to Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, and Brazil, said Sariano. “We are also working with World-Tel to extend this model to India,” according to Sariano.
And there is of course the huge entertainment potential of the Latin American market. “Latin American music has global appeal. Nations like Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, and Puerto Rico have always produced more than their fair share of great music,” says Jamey Stout, founder and CEO of music site DGolpe.com. Many more music giants like Carlos Santana, Ricky Martin or Caetano Veloso can now be discovered on the Net.
Players in the Spanish language markets are emerging not just in Latin America but from the U.S. and Spain as well, such as AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Prodigy, and Telefonica.
For this reason, cities like Miami in the U.S. are emerging as a major hub for e-commerce companies operating in Latin America; Miami also happens to be one of the most visited destination cities for shoppers and tourists from Latin America.
Some local players are on the other hand arguing that excessive dependence on the U.S. stock market could be unhealthy by increasing vulnerability of local players to downturns in the U.S. markets.
(3) e-Europe
As the Internet user population outside the U.S. exceeds the user base within the U.S.—a historic landmark which was just passed in year 2000 -- powerful innovations and business models for online access and usage are emerging from outside the U.S. as well.
One of the most dramatic innovations to sweep the access market in recent times has been the explosion of free-usage ISPs in countries like Britain. Despite operational challenges, the phenomenal success of free ISPs has ignited the imagination of telcos, ISPs, retailers, content publishers, and commerce ventures elsewhere in Europe and other parts of the world.
And while the U.S. may lead in diffusion of the Net via PCs, Europe has a much greater diversity of other interactive platforms such as digital TV (DTV). In terms of content, sites focusing on European sports like football and rugby have a much more international appeal (especially in Asia and Latin America) than U.S. sports like baseball and basketball, and can thus scale up to global audiences and ad revenue streams more easily.
European businesses in cities are taking on broadband connections much faster than the U.S. More European sites tend to be multilingual and localised for many countries, as compared to U.S. sites which are largely in English only. Furthermore, traditional European media companies on the Net have already dared to cannibalise their own content, as compared to many U.S. media companies who have been sidelined by Internet pure-plays.
Interesting developments are also unfolding in Scandinavia in areas like Internet applications for cellphones, and creative uses of corporate Intranets. For instance, shopping for clothes is possible from Ericsson's Intranet.
“Though the mass markets for the Internet are in Germany, UK and France, the Scandinavian markets show higher sophistication,” according to Even Neufeld, vice president of international research at Jupiter.
With an increase in convergence of communication and financial services accessible via cellphones, a Scandinaivan enthusiast has reportedly remarked that “your phone will be your remote control for life.”
In fact, some countries in Europe such as Spain and Italy are expected to largely leapfrog the PC-based e-commerce phase and directly get into m-commerce. Telefonica Italy is rolling out cellphones with preconfigured Internet access.
There will also be a huge market in Europe for content and devices which don't necessarily depend on a visual interface such as a screen, but can be accessed on audio devices—such as music, radio programming and MP3 players.
European digital TV companies like France TPS and NTL Interactive are rolling out interactive Web-enabled shopping services coupled with cable TV content, where users can view music videos, dig up album and artist information in Web formats, and then place orders via online credit card transactions.
A major issue for European Internet companies is withstanding the fierce competition from U.S. players moving into Europe. A big challenge for players in Europe is scaling up their existing information and technology base to pan-European operations, a feat which U.S. players like publishing group IDG, portal Yahoo, and online service AOL have pulled off remarkably well.
European retailers are feeling market share erosion from US online retailers—for instance, from, Amazon.com which has operations in Germany and Britain, and from U.S. travel companies.
In the U.S., it is easier for new ideas to scale up quickly, due to the larger and more homogenous user base. European Internet professionals also do not have as much access to sophisticated and comprehensive market research resources as their U.S. counterparts, though this is beginning to change as more market research groups launch or scale up their European operations.
Despite Europe's different languages, cultures and cuisines, many observers note that a “European consumer” is starting to emerge from the region's economic convergence, single market and modern means of communication.
In January 2002, the Euro will become the only valid currency in 11 European countries, creating a market of 400 million consumers whose younger generation has been weaned on technology, world travel, and the Internet.
“Because of this, they will adopt more uniform buying behaviour than their elders,” according to Jacques Habib, a partner at Andersen Consulting in Paris.
In sum, it is in four areas—wireless Internet access, integrated DTV, multilingual publishing, and free ISP models—that Europe is at the cutting edge of the Internet economy.
But European companies also face massive shortages in skilled IT workers in gearing up for the Internet age, and numerous reports from research firms like IDC predict shortfalls of hundreds of thousands of knowledge workers in the coming years. Many of these are likely to be filled up from non-EU countries like India.
(4) Middle East and Africa
The concept “algorithm” -- on which much of computer science is based—derives its name from Arab mathematician Abdallah Al-Khwarizmi, who was born in Baghdad in the 8th century A.D. Though Arab countries seem to have fallen behind in the IT race today, some are making determined attempts to catch up.
While the Internet market in the Middle East and African countries is just moving from embryonic to emerging stages, pockets of notable developments are visible in South Africa, Dubai and Tunisia.
The Internet population worldwide is expected to double in the period 1999 to 2002, and the Internet user base in the Middle East and Africa is expected to triple; there will be an estimated 12 million Internet users in the Middle East by 2002.
Dubai has announced the launch of a tax-free Internet City which has attracted more than 190 companies including Microsoft, Compaq, IBM and Oracle. Dubai Internet City has no corporate or personal income tax, allows foreign companies to maintain 100 percent ownership of their businesses, and aims to become a “regional oasis” for local startups.
Notable emerging projects in Tunisia include TradeNet Tunisia (www.tradenet.com.tn), a one-stop online documentation and financial service for importers, exporters and freight organisations; PubliNet (public Internet centres) to increase Internet access options via community centres; “Internet Caravans” (www.caravanes-internet.tn) to take mobile workshops about the Internet around the country; and the Tunisian postal agency's smart card project called e-Dinar (e-dinar.poste.tn).
Areas ripe for harnessing for online global media markets include Arabic music, which is receiving significant international attention thanks in part to pop star Sting's recent track “Desert Rose,” which features Algerian singer Cheb Mami. Popular sites like Mazika.com now feature discographies, fanmail, and music downloads of Arab musicians.
Japanese management guru Ken-ichi Ohmae, in his recent besteseller “The Invisible Continent,” observes that smaller and more nimble countries like Ireland and Singapore have done a remarkable job of transforming themselves into regional “e-hubs” in the information age.
Perhaps a similar approach would serve Tunisia well too, especially if it harnesses the talent and capital of its diaspora and leverages its strategic location between Africa, Europe and the Arab bloc.
(5) Asia-Pacific
With a population of over three billion people, the 23 countries of the Asia-Pacific region represent a rapidly growing and lucrative segment of the global Internet market.
According to market research firm Yankee Group, Asia will have 374 million users at the end of 2005. But despite dropping costs of Internet devices and access tariffs, there will be some bumps up ahead on the Asian information superhighway, in the form of ambiguous or unfavourable regulations, lack of scaling in infrastructure, inadequate investment in start-ups, and management challenges in running companies which have gone public.
Asia exhibits a wide diversity of telecom and broadcast environments, ranging from teledensity-poor India and China to advanced info-societies like Singapore and Hong Kong where provision of basic universal telecom access is no longer an issue.
“Getting the regulatory house in order remains a primary challenge in much of Asia,” according to Mark Hukill, professor at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
Luckily, role models for the Asian Internet have already emerged, leading global investors have taken a serious interest in the Asian Internet, and government regulations on the Internet market are slowly easing.
Three key trends are emerging in the Asian mediascape: the rise of new technology platforms and associated socio-economic behaviour patterns such as NTT DoCoMo's i-mode service for mobile Internet access in Japan, the growing clout of countries like India, Singapore and the Philippines as hubs of e-commerce solutions development, and the rise of the “digital keiretsu” or networks of Web properties via mergers, acquisitions and alliances.
At the head of the Asian Internet market is Japan. “The basic foundations of the Japanese Internet economy are coming together,” according to Allen Miller, president of SunBridge, a U.S. firm focusing on early-stage investments in Japanese Internet companies. Japan is much ahead of the U.S. in mobile communications and related technologies like Internet appliances, mobile emailers, and Web-enabled iMode phones.
Tens of thousands of i-mode sites are available in Japan for mobile Internet access, offering banking, travel ticketing, news and email services via a “portal tone.” Soon NTT plans to roll out 3G W-CDMA services with 2 Mbps bandwidth and broadband content, as the number of users accessing the Net via mobiles exceeds those accessing it via PCs. The pervasive, “always on” nature of mobile Net access will undoubtedly continue to spin off entirely new innovations in online services.
Japanese e-commerce pioneers have also shown a lot of innovation via creation of digital vending machines in public places for downloading maps and music, and the integration of convenience stores (such as 7-Elevens) in the e-commerce logistics chain for delivery of goods to customers near their homes or train stations.
Australia tends to lead the region in early adoption of new media; unfortunately, it has not been able to creation conditions favourable for the formation of a “regional Silicon Valley” in the Asia Pacific.
On the regulatory front, there is widespread community support for government-citizen-industry partnerships for cyberspace regulation in Australia. The Australian scheme has three components: a hotline for complaints about online content, a community advisory and educational body called NetAlert, and codes of practice formulated by the 600-member Internet Industry Association of Australia. Many countries are looking at the Australian model of cooperative regulation with a lot of interest.
The proliferation of the Internet has also been leveraged by regional political movements hampered by governments, such as the opposition movement in Malaysia and the student movements in Indonesia. Web sites used by activists have helped ensure more open elections in east Asia, exposed corrupt politicians in South Korea, and spread environmental viewpoints in India.
“Out of 3 billion people in Asia, more than two-thirds—over 2 billion—are less than 35 years of age. They have grown up in an expansive and expanding environment, and are finely in tune with new media, awareness of outside influences, and a sense of momentum,” according to Frank Brown, president of MTV Networks Asia.
“For a long time, Asian countries like Singapore have been nations of employees. Our challenge now in the digital millenium is to spawn a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” according to Lim Swee Say, Singapore's minister of state for communications.
Another major Internet player in East Asia is Korea. The Korean government has launched an ambitious programme called “One PC, One Home” to accelerate PC diffusion. Korea leads the world in per capita diffusion of broadband Internet access as well as activities like online stock trading and Internet gaming.
Mainland China is expected to become a leading global market in five years. China declared 1999 to be the Year of the Internet. “E-Commerce is the future of business,” Chinese president Jiang Jemin is reported to have said during a recent APEC summit.
In comparison, India is an extremely content-rich country with a very free press climate, unlike some of its other Asian counterparts: the news, culture, entertainment, sports and medical knowledge base of this country can easily sustain dozens of portals and vortals for a content-hungry consumer marketplace.
The Indian diaspora are spread across the world from Silicon Valley and Sydney to Singapore and Southall, and their strong community ties have led to global audiences for content offerings as well as interlinked networks of venture capital and a superb flair for collective international Netrepreneurship.
India's cutting-edge competitive infotech and design skills are leading growing numbers of U.S., European and Australian companies to outsource much of their software development and even customer service to companies based half-way around the world in India.
Indians in the U.S. -- like Vinod Khosla (co-founder of Sun Microsystems), C.K. Prahlad (management studies guru at Harvard Business School), Ravi Kalakota (e-commerce professor at the University of Texas in Austin), Rajat Gupta (CEO of McKinsey Consulting), Gunjan Sinha (founder of eGain), Gururaj Deshpande (founder of Juniper Networks), Sandeep Sidhu (founder of i2 Technologies), Kanwal Rekhi (former CTO of Novell Networks), Sabeer Bhatia (founder of Hotmail), Rakesh Mathur (co-founder of Junglee) and Rohit Chandra (founder of eCode) -- have been making quite a mark in the computer, Internet, academic, and business fields in the U.S. They are now forging new links with their home country for the New Economy—turning a “brain drain” into a “brain bank.”
“Silicon Valley is built on ICs—not integrated circuits, but Indians and Chinese,” jokes regional economics scholar AnnaLee Saxenian, a professor at the University of California in Berkeley who has published research work on how Indian Internet professionals are building technology transfer and venture capital bridges between Silicon Valley and India, paralleling developments in Taiwan a decade ago in the hardware industry.
Having a large domestic user base means India can sustain a lot of local infrastructure, content, foreign capital investments, and an online market in general—unlike smaller countries like Ireland and Singapore, who need to be focusing much more on overseas markets.
But India still lags behind in becoming a powerful services hub like Singapore or Ireland, which have much more robust infrastructure, less bureaucratic red tape, and more political stability.
The challenge ahead is to grow the scope and scale of these targets while also extending the benefits of the IT and Internet revolution to the rest of the Indian economy and society at large, overcoming the digital divide in the process. India will also be hard-pressed to meet the target workforce size of 2.2. million IT workers by 2008 (up from 300,000 today).
Other challenges include creating the right regulatory environment, growing the domestic market, bridging the digital divide, breaking into non-English markets, improving global marketing skills, dealing with the global trend towards shorter lifecycles, and migrating up the value chain from basic software maintenance to full-fledged IPR creation. Generally risk-averse, many Indian companies have also preferred to stick to low-risk highly-contractable work, though this is beginning to change as a new generation of “Netrepreneurs” is emerging.
Areas ripe for foreign companies to consider Indian alliances include strengthening Internet security, data caching, Web-enabling legacy systems, XML-enabled application integration, implementing e-commerce sites (eg. auctions, B2B exchanges), developing enterprise portals, managing content-heavy sites, standardising plug-and-play technologies, evolving WAP utilities, spinning off hi-tech consulting services, remote education and training, and online market research.
According to a NASSCOM-McKinsey survey, The domestic IT market in India is still largely untapped, thanks to low PC penetration (3.6 per thousand people, as compared to 362 in the U.S., 217 in Singapore, 145 in Ireland, and 9 in the Philippines), low computerisation of government departments (Singapore is a notable role model here, thanks to electronic government and the Singapore One broadband initiative; Malaysia is also ambitious in this regard), and low IT spending as a percentage of GDP (0.2 per cent, as compared to 2 per cent in the U.S., 1.8 in Sweden, 1.0 in Singapore, and 0.8 in Ireland).
Regulatory obstacles are currently responsible for higher costs of leased data lines, inadequate interconnectivity between various communications networks, and lack of VoIP services. Other developing countries like the Philippines are ahead of India in this regard; Manila is now an important hub as an animation centre for Disney, call centre for Intel, help desk for AOL, and Java skill centre for Sun.
Due to reasons of much more diverse business and political cultures, it may be more difficult for Asia to have pan-Asian Internet players than other continents like Europe and Latin America, where pan-European ISPs and pan-Latin portals are rapidly emerging.
Asian Internet players are also facing challenges in attracting talented management, drawing on “smart capital,” and harnessing employee strengths via stock option programmes.
And as long as infrastructural obstacles and regulatory obscurities persist, the Internet phenomenon in many Asian countries may continue to be characterised as a gradual evolution rather than a dramatic revolution.
CARETAS MAGAZINE FROM PERU IS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
CARETAS MAGAZINE
* Subject: CARETAS MAGAZINE
* Date: Sun, 30 Jul 95 23:23:15 EDT
CARETAS MAGAZINE
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 01:26:44 GMT
Subject: Caretas Magazine
Sender: owner-newjour@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 19:21:46 +0100
From: au007@rs1.rrz.uni-koeln.de (Michael Uwe Moebius)
Subject: CARETAS
SENDER: js@cahuide.rcp.net.pe (Jose Soriano)
Subject: WWW> ANNOUNCING: CARETAS MAGAZINE WWW (Peru)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 15:08:14 +0000 (GMT)
-- INTERNET PRESS RELEASE --
CARETAS MAGAZINE FROM PERU IS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
Lima (Monday, January 16, 1995): CARETAS the most ancient magazine of
PERU, announces the launch of its World Wide Web page
(http://www.rcp.net.pe/CARETAS
This weekly magazine ( in spanish ) founded 45 years ago it will be
now also available each thursday in the WWW of the Peru national network:
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA.
--
Jose Soriano - Red Cientifica Peruana - e-mail : js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Alonso de la Molina 1698 Monterrico - Lima - Peru
TE: ( 51 -14) 36 89 89 anexo 527 / fax: 36 40 67
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Frente a las igualmente invalidas posiciones del optimismo y del
pesimismo solo cabe la incertidumbre!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
* Subject: CARETAS MAGAZINE
* Date: Sun, 30 Jul 95 23:23:15 EDT
CARETAS MAGAZINE
Date: Tue, 31 Jan 1995 01:26:44 GMT
Subject: Caretas Magazine
Sender: owner-newjour@ccat.sas.upenn.edu
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 1995 19:21:46 +0100
From: au007@rs1.rrz.uni-koeln.de (Michael Uwe Moebius)
Subject: CARETAS
SENDER: js@cahuide.rcp.net.pe (Jose Soriano)
Subject: WWW> ANNOUNCING: CARETAS MAGAZINE WWW (Peru)
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 1995 15:08:14 +0000 (GMT)
-- INTERNET PRESS RELEASE --
CARETAS MAGAZINE FROM PERU IS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB
Lima (Monday, January 16, 1995): CARETAS the most ancient magazine of
PERU, announces the launch of its World Wide Web page
(http://www.rcp.net.pe/CARETAS
This weekly magazine ( in spanish ) founded 45 years ago it will be
now also available each thursday in the WWW of the Peru national network:
RED CIENTIFICA PERUANA.
--
Jose Soriano - Red Cientifica Peruana - e-mail : js@rcp.net.pe
Av. Alonso de la Molina 1698 Monterrico - Lima - Peru
TE: ( 51 -14) 36 89 89 anexo 527 / fax: 36 40 67
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Frente a las igualmente invalidas posiciones del optimismo y del
pesimismo solo cabe la incertidumbre!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
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