ASIA PACIFIC B2C GROWTH FORECAST AT US$210 BILLION BY 2006

Lancaster – 28th August 2002 – Latest research from figureSeeq ™, the leading index of the global digital economy produced by Teleconomy Group reveals staggering growth in the Asian e-economy by 2006.

figureSeeq ™ which tracks 83 countries globally demonstrates significant growth across the Asia-Pacific region in IT, telecom and e-business sectors*. By 2006 over half of all households in the region would own at least one mobile telephone, and 21% of all households would own at least one web enabled mobile device.

Recent findings from country profiles highlight developments in specific countries:

Taiwan has the third highest DSL broadband penetration in the world and by the end of this year will be the global manufacturing centre for more than 57.7 percent of world demand for digital subscriber line (DSL) equipment.

Cambodia is a futuristic mobile market where uniquely, the number of mobile phone subscribers are nearly three times higher than those of fixed line

Hong Kong has the second highest Broadband penetration after South Korea

Indonesia is the fourth most populated and largest Muslim country in the world with substantial opportunities in telecom, IT and e-commerce

Sri Lanka demonstrates a major gap between those who have access and the ability to use ICT, and those who do not -- remains enormous. As a proportion of monthly income, Internet access in the United States is 50 times cheaper than in Sri Lanka.

Vietnam is the fastest growing economy in the region after China, growing at a 6.8 percent clip.

Pakistan has the potential to compete with its neighbour India in IT. Focused on software development, the country is developing data entry, call centres and system integration.

Philippines telecommunication services are still operated by private entities but has an innovative regulatory regime. It has an explosive rate of mobile growth making the nation among the first where the mobiles surpassed fixed lines, where the SMS per capita is the highest in the world, and where the local costs are free.

Thailand - telecommunication infrastructure is owned by two main operators, controlled by the government. Internet penetration is around 6.3% and broadband access availability is limited to ISDN, Cable and ADSL and uniquely offers prepaid cards for the use of ISP services.

Malaysia was the first country in South East Asia to launch a cellular mobile network and has the second lowest dial-up cost in the region (behind Singapore) and lower cost of Internet access than local calls by using a prefixed number. However broadband penetration is the lowest against other countries in the region.

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