China to Surpass Japan

By the year 2005, China will move from its current position as the tenth largest Internet population to second place, according to Computer Economics. In doing so, China will pass Japan, currently in second place, and trail only the US.

According to Computer Economics, the US will still have three times as many Internet users as China in 2005. [IC_ARTICLE_OBJECT [SHOW IC_Article_ID] “table1”]

“Between 2003 and 2005, China will dominate the Asia Pacific region in terms of Internet users, thanks to increasingly available wireless technologies,” said Computer Economics’ director of research and advisory services Michael Erbschloe. “Other areas that now show high numbers of users, such as Australia, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, will not increase at such a high rate.”

Hong Kong-based consultancy Big Brains said that China had 3.4 million Internet users at the end of 1998, and that number will rise to 5.5 million by the end of 1999. By 2001, Big Brains predicts 15 million Internet users in China.

Thirty percent of Chinese households have a PC capable of accessing the Internet, and 60 percent have Netscape installed, according to Advanced Forecasting-HuiCong (AFHC).