[ASIAN-BUSINESS] Internet in Asia

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     Comments, feedback, etc. most welcome as always, as well as
translated abstracts from newspapers in languages other than
English.
                                                      - madan

Madanmohan Rao (rao@xxxxxxx), Communications Consultant,      
United Nations Inter Press Service bureau.
 
Internet Shopping Headed For Boom
- ---------------------------------
Up to a third of shopping will be done online or via TV in 10
years' time, according to a study by Gemini Consulting, part of
the Cap Gemini Sogeti information technology consultancy. Growth
in retailing through the Internet and interactive television will
soon start to affect traditional retailers, with home shopping
taking at least 8 per cent and possibly 30 per cent of the market
by 2005. According to Davidson Pavitt, vice-president of Gemini,
traditional high street retailers will have to compete by making
the leisure shopping experience more exciting. While the growth
of Internet shopping will depend on consumer trust and network
security, the rewards for those entering the market will be huge.
Profit margins will be about 18 per cent for Internet retailing
compared with just 6 per cent in traditional stores. 
(Financial Times, Britain; June 28, 1996)
 
Internet Access, Electronic Transactions Pose Challenge In India
- ----------------------------------------------------------------
In India, T1 links to the Internet cost about 10 times that in
the U.S. But since disk space is inexpensive, some Indian
companies are setting up shop on the Internet via a tie-up with a
U.S.-based company. Electronic payment systems over the Internet
are still not in operation in India. Still, some Indian companies
have begun to experiment with ways of collecting payments from
overseas customers.
(Express Computer, India; June 26, 1996)
 
Thailand To Draft New Law Governing Transactions On Internet 
- ------------------------------------------------------------
Thailand will draft a new law governing trade through electronic
data systems, according to a legal counsellor at the Commerce
Ministry, Yanyong Phungraj. The law is likely to be adapted from
the master electronic commerce law being drafted at the United
Nations. More and more trading transactions are conducted by
telephone, fax and the Internet, so it is important for
governments to set up a legal basis for electronic trading, he
said. The draft will emphasise rules on transactions and
documents for transportation of goods, such as bills of lading
and invoices. Thailand hopes that drafting the law will help
prepare the country to be come a regional trading centre.
Countries like the U.S., Britain, Japan, France, Malaysia, the
Philippines and Singapore already have laws governing
transactions under electronic systems.
(Bangkok Post; June 24, 1996)
 
Internet Advertising Promises Increasing Returns, Global Reach
- --------------------------------------------------------------
According to Boston-based International Data Group, cyberspace
will siphon marketing dollars away from newspapers, magazines and
television as the number of users increases to more than 200
million worldwide by year 2000 from about 100 million today.
Forrester Research, a Cambridge-based market-research company,
said 5 per cent of all advertising, or $3 billion to $4 billion
worth, will be on the Internet by the turn of the century.
Britain-based Barclays Bank said 40 per cent of 1,000 companies
it surveyed think the network will be a useful advertising medium
for them. Sites like HotWired and Yahoo! charge companies $15,000
to $20,000 a month for a series of ads. The London Telegraph's
electronic edition asks 12,000 pounds sterling for top-of-the-
page ads and 8,000 pounds sterling for one down the side. For
now, though, advertising remains unprofitable. Ultimately,
Internet advertising will be successful because of the global
marketing opportunities it represents.
(Straits Times, Singapore; June 23, 1996)
 
Internet Can Help Indians Create Global "Brain-Bank"
- ----------------------------------------------------
Overseas Indians constitute not just a source of funds but a
"brain-bank," according to management guru Professor C.K.
Prahalad. India needs to make better efforts to tap into the
300,000 highly qualified and skilled Indian professionals
scattered around the world, just as Taiwan and Korea have lured
back their nationals from overseas. Speaking at the Indian Global
Entrepreneurs Conference in Singapore, Prahalad urged that a
database of overseas Indians be established with the aid of the
Internet. "Indians are natural Internet animals," he noted.
(Singapore Business Times; June 20, 1996)
 
Global Internet Challenges Revenue, Taxation Models
- ---------------------------------------------------
The rapid growth of transactions on the Internet is not only a
threat to significant sources of government revenue but will also
force changes to tax collection methods, warns Professor Scott
Henderson, the national president of the Australian Society of
Certified Practising Accountants. "Significant sources of
government revenue have the potential to dry up virtually
overnight, such as tax on cash transfers and tax on transactions
that can be carried out offshore using the Internet," Henderson
said. E-cash could become the "new black economy" because once a
transaction takes place there is no record of it. Other
challenges brought by the Internet to tax authorities include
money laundering and tax evasion.
(The Age, Australia; June 19, 1996)
 
Internet Is Key Marketing Vehicle In Asia
- -----------------------------------------
Manufacturers and advertisers had better get "wired" if they want
to reach Asia's increasingly sophisticated consumers, according
to experts at a 3-day global advertising conference in Seoul.
Asia's growing middle classes, especially its young people, are
busy surfing the Web and soaking up other new media. Asia has the
fastest-growing economies and some of the world's heaviest
concentrations of computer and VCR ownership. "The implications
for the Internet and other kinds of interactive media are just
enormous," said Peter Weldon of A.C. Nielsen in Hong Kong. But
others seemed unconvinced about how much money the Net would
bring to advertisers. Peter Mitchell of London-based Guinness
said it was unclear if and when they would make much money from
the Internet. "Its significance as a sales tool is not yet
proven," he said.
(Indian Express; June 12, 1996)
 
New Internet Access Rates In Malaysia Cause Outcry
- --------------------------------------------------
In just under four years, subscription to Jaring, the Malaysian
Internet gateway, has grown to some 30,000 users at a monthly
rate of 20 per cent. However, the recent introduction of timed
local calls by Malaysia Telekom has caused a furore among
Internauts here, who are growing resigned to the fact that the
access costs for telecommunication will be so high that people
will make minimal use of the Net. Internet users will be meeting
Telekom officials this Friday to hear the response to their
concerns. Hopefully some appropriate new measures will be taken,
otherwise, Telekom may go down in history as having "strangled
the Internet to death" during its infancy in Malaysia.
(The Star, Malaysia; June 16, 1996)

South Korea Bans Internet Links To North Korea
- ----------------------------------------------
South Koreans have been forbidden to make contact with North
Koreans via the Internet. Prosecutors in Seoul say anybody who
accesses North Korean web pages or distributes information from
the North on their personal computers will be punished. The state
invoked Chapter 2, Article 7, of the National Security Law which
bans the admiration of anti-state groups and forbids unauthorised
contacts with North Korea. The state warning was prompted by a
report in a South Korean newspaper which described a Canadian Web
page showing a portrait of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il. 
(The Telegraph, Britain, June 13; International Herald Tribune,
June 7, 1996)
 
Global Advertisers Discuss Revenue Models, Censorship On Internet
- -----------------------------------------------------------------
International advertisers are lining up to buy spots on CNN's
Internet-based news service, said Daniel Stone, a CNN vice-
president, at the International Advertising Association's World
Congress in Seoul, South Korea. CNN Interactive will break even
this year, and revenue may double next year. "The potential of
the new medium as an advertising vehicle is phenomenal," said
Stone. CNN generates money by charging advertisers $5,000 to
$35,000 a month for advertising banners linked to their own
sites. American Express, IBM, and South Korea's Samsung have used
the service. Global advertisers at the conference also debated
whether to fight government attempts to censor some communication
on the Net or to defuse censorship campaigns by cleaning up their
own ads. Ronald Beatson, head of the European Association of
Advertising Agencies, said that vulgar and offensive ads should
be filtered via self-regulation.
(Financial Express, India; June 12, 1996)
 
Vietnam Allows Access To Internet On A "Trial Basis"
- ----------------------------------------------------
Vietnam's Directorate General of Post and Telecommunications has
reportedly issued a "temporary regulation" allowing Vietnamese
enterprises to apply for licenses to provide Internet connections
and services. But the temporary regulation only allows for
Internet services to be provided on a "trial basis" due to
concerns about national security and cultural purity. In the
meantime, the government seeks to acquire the ability "to manage
and control the network" and to filter out pornography and "other
taboo subjects."
(Kyodo News Service, Japan; June 9, 1996)
 
Web Server Usage By Japanese Companies To Increase
- --------------------------------------------------
A growing number of major Japanese companies will introduce Web
servers, according to a survey of 3,500 companies conducted
between mid-December 1995 and mid-March this year by IDC Japan,
the Japanese subsidiary of U.S.-based International Data
Corporation. Of 1,288 responding companies, 6.6 percent have
already installed Web servers. 8.1 percent of companies with 300
or more workers have already installed servers but the proportion
was a mere 0.4 percent for smaller companies with four or fewer
workers. 37.1 percent of the respondents use the Web to promote
their products, while 11 percent use it for customer support.
(Kyodo News Service, Japan; June 4, 1996)
 
Fraud And Investment Scams Likely To Proliferate On Internet
- ------------------------------------------------------------
In a report titled "Consumer Protection Policy in the New
High-Tech, Global Marketplace," the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
(FTC) warned that hordes of scam artists may soon stalk new
victims over the global Internet, thanks to cheap and anonymous
access. Just last week, the FTC halted an illegal pyramid scheme
on the Internet called Fortuna Alliance that bilked thousands of
investors out of more than $6 million and transferred at least
$3.55 million of that to a bank in Antigua, West Indies. Last
year, the Securities
Exchange Commission brought five cases against alleged
Internet investment scams. According to John Stark, the special
counsel for Internet projects in the SEC's enforcement division,
the Internet is "open territory for people to peddle all types of
bogus, unregistered securities." The SEC warns investors to be
wary of offshore scams and international investments that may be
legitimate overseas but not registered in the U.S., such as
recent scams involving enterprises in the Dominican Republic and
Costa Rica. The National Association of Securities Dealers
announced that it will hire 130 new investigators as part of a
stepped-up surveillance effort that will include greater policing
of stock trading and investment advice on the Net.
(Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, June 4; Reuters News
Agency, June 3; Money, May 18, 1996)
 
BBSs, Intranet Create Buzz In Jordan
- ------------------------------------
In the coming months, it is expected that a number of new BBSs
will obtain licenses to start operation in the Jordanian market,
entering a well-established sector currently dominated by
pioneering companies such as NETS and Access. A growing number of
Jordanians seem to be interested in connecting to an online
service. But just as on-line services like CompuServe are gearing
themselves more towards the Internet, so also BBS operators in
Jordan may begin to offer Internet gateways. In Jordan, Intranets
are also making an appearance; one is being built for Aramex, the
express services company, by Business Optimization Consultants in
cooperation with Specialized Technical Services. 
(The Star, Jordan; May 31, 1996)
 
South Korean Stock Exchange To Set Up Web Site In English
- ---------------------------------------------------------
Korea Stock Exch  plans to offer information in English via its Web
site from June 1 to help foreigners better understand the Korean
stock market. Information will be provided about foreign direct
investment, stock reports, and statistics.
(Korea Times; May 24, 1996)
 



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