Australias Position Relative to Other Countries

The ABS estimated that at 30 June 2000, approximately A$5.1 billion in sales was generated via Internet e-commerce by 38,000 e-commerce active businesses (an average return of A$134,210 per business). The majority of this activity was in the B2B sector. A short summary of Australia's standing against each of the indicators follows with more detailed analysis included in the main body of the report.

Following data in respect of September 2001

• 1. % of households with a fixed telephone line: Australia ranked equal 7th. Norway and Sweden ranked 1st.

Australia ranked equal 7th against this indicator with Germany, with approximately 97 per cent of households in each country estimated to have a fixed telephone line. The majority of the 14 benchmarked countries recorded penetration levels in excess of 90 per cent. Norway and Sweden recorded 100 per cent take up. Ireland recorded the lowest penetration level (84 per cent of households).

• 2. % of households with more than one fixed telephone line: Australia ranked 6th. US ranked 1st.

Approximately 11 per cent of Australian households with a fixed telephone line were estimated to have more than one fixed phone line. The US was the highest ranked country against this indicator with 29 per cent of fixed line households estimated to have more than one phone line. The US was followed by Taiwan (25 per cent) and Norway (20 per cent), while Italy and South Korea recorded the lowest penetration levels (one per cent respectively). It should be noted that South Korea recorded the highest level of broadband take up (Indicator 6) therefore making a second phone line in the household a redundancy, considering the ability of broadband technologies to provide telephony and Internet access over the same line.

• 3. % of persons 16 years and over with use of a mobile phone: Australia ranked 8th . Hong Kong 1st.

Sixty four per cent of the Australian population aged 16 years and over were estimated to have access to a mobile phone. Hong Kong reported the highest take up (75 per cent), France the lowest with 46 per cent.

• 4. % of households which own / lease a PC: Australia ranked 2nd . South Korea 1st.

Sixty four per cent of Australian households were estimated to own or lease a computer. South Korea had the highest penetration level (70 per cent), France the lowest (35 per cent).

• 5. % of households connected to the Internet: Australia ranked equal 7th. Hong Kong and Sweden ranked 1st.

Fifty two per cent of Australian households were connected to the Internet, placing Australia equal 7th with Norway. Hong Kong and Sweden recorded the highest adoption levels with 58 per cent respectively. France had the lowest proportion of households online, 22 per cent.

• 6. Internet connection speeds: Australia ranked equal 9th. South Korea ranked 1st.

Approximately 5 per cent of Australians using the Internet at home were estimated to have accessed the Internet from home at high speeds (DSL, Cable, LAN, etc). Australia ranked equal 9th with Norway and New Zealand. South Korea was ranked 1st with 87 per cent of its online home population accessing the Internet at high speeds. The Republic of Ireland recorded the lowest penetration levels (1 per cent of the home online population).

• 7. % of persons 2 years and over with Internet access via a home PC: Australia ranked 8th. Sweden ranked 1st.

Approximately 54 per cent of the Australian population 2 years and over had access to the Internet at home. Sweden recorded the highest access levels with 65 per cent of its population 2 years and over with home Internet access while France recorded the lowest access levels with 20 per cent.

• 8. % of persons 16 years and over with Internet access from any location: Australia ranked 5th. Sweden ranked 1st

Seventy two per cent of Australians aged 16 years and over were estimated to have access to the Internet from any location. Sweden recorded the highest adult access levels (82 per cent), Italy the lowest (46 per cent).

• 9. % of persons 16 years and over with Internet access at home or work: Australia ranked 8th for home and 4th for work. Sweden ranked 1st for home and work.

Fifty seven per cent of Australians 16 years and over had access to the Internet at home while 35 per cent had access at work. Sweden recorded the highest home and work access levels (64 and 43 per cent respectively), France the lowest for home (25 per cent) and Italy the lowest for work (15 per cent).

• 10. % of persons 16 years and over with Internet access actually using the Internet: Australia ranked equal 6th. Sweden ranked 1st.

Sixty four per cent of Australians 16 years and over with current Internet access reported actually using the Internet. Sweden had the highest levels of Internet use with 78 per cent of Swedes with current Internet access actually using the Internet in the three-month period to September 2001. Hong Kong recorded the lowest levels of Internet use with approximately 41 per cent of the adult population with current Internet access using the Internet.

• 11. % of persons 16 years and over with Internet access by gender: Australia ranked 1st in the equity of access between males and females (lowest difference in access between genders).

Approximately 73 per cent of males and 72 per cent of females aged 16 years and over in Australia had access to the Internet. Swedish men and women had the highest access levels 85 and 80 per cent respectively while Italy recorded the lowest access levels for males and females (52 and 41 per cent respectively).

• 12. % of persons 16 years and over with Internet access by age group: Australia ranked 1st in the equity of access between age groups (lowest difference in access between age groups).

Eighty per cent of Australians aged 16-34 years of age were estimated to have access to the Internet compared to 68 per cent for Australians aged 35 years and over. For both age groups Swedes reported access levels of 96 and 76 per cent respectively. Italy recorded the lowest access levels for the two age groups (64 per cent and 37 per cent respectively).

• 13. Number of persons 16 years and over with Internet access per ISP: Australia ranked 1st. The US ranked 2nd.

Internet Service Providers underpin the emerging Information Economy by providing critical Internet access and value added services. There are an estimated 15,000 Australians 16 years and over with Internet access per ISP placing Australia first ahead of the US which had an estimated 20,000:1 support ratio.

• 14. Number of secure servers per 100,000 persons 16 years and over with Internet access: Australia ranked equal 2nd. The US first ranked 1st.

Secure servers form part of the emerging infrastructure that is essential for secure electronic commerce. The ratio of Australians 16 years and over with Internet access to secure server was the 2nd highest with approximately 36 secure servers per 100,000 persons with Internet access. The US, ranked first, had an estimated 49 secure servers per 100,000 persons with Internet access.

• 15. Price of 40 hours of Internet use at peak times: Australia ranked 3rd. US ranked 1st.

Available data is limited to August/September 2000 and for OECD countries only, therefore no data is available from Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong. In terms of the price of 40 hours of Internet access, Australia was ranked 3rd cheapest with 42.9 US dollars while the US was ranked 1st with 23.8 US dollars. Ireland was ranked as the most expensive country in terms of Internet access (75.4 US dollars).

• 16. Charges for a basket of national leased lines of 2 megabits per second: Australia ranked 10th. Sweden ranked 1st.

Australia was ranked 10th in terms of charges for a basket of national leased lines of 2 megabytes per second with 132 US dollars. Sweden was ranked 1st (26 US dollars).

• 17. Average number of Internet sessions & hours online per month: Australia ranked 9th and 7th. South Korea ranked 1st for both categories.

For the month of July 2001, Australians using the Internet at home averaged 13 Internet sessions and spent an average of six hours and 55 minutes online. South Korea was the leading country, with an average of 26 sessions and 19 hours and 2 minutes online.

• 18. % of persons (people with Internet access and browsers) 16 years and over purchasing online: Australia ranked equal 5th and 8th. The US ranked 1st in both categories.

Fourteen per cent of Australians 16 years and over with current Internet access were estimated to have made a purchase via the Internet placing Australia equal 5th out of the 14 benchmarked countries. The US was ranked 1st with an estimated 36 per cent of the adult population shopping online. Italy and Hong Kong had the lowest take up online shopping with only 4 per cent of the population with current Internet access purchasing over the Internet. There was however an increased level of participation in online shopping for active browsers of the web. Fifty per cent of Australians 16 years and over browsing the web made an online purchase, placing Australia 8th. Once again the US had the highest participation level, 67 per cent. Germany (65%), the UK (62%), Sweden (60%), Norway (58%), South Korea (55%) and France (53%) had higher levels of participation than Australia.

• 19. B2C as a % of GDP: Australia ranked 6th, the US ranked 1st.

In Australia, B2C as a per cent of GDP was less than 0.2 per cent (0.17) in comparison to 0.7 per cent for the US. The highest scoring country was the US with 100 points while Australia scored 24 points.

• 20. B2B as % of GDP: Australia ranked equal 4th, the US ranked 1st.

In terms of B2B, Australia was ranked equal 4th with Singapore with B2B estimated to be 1.1 per cent of GDP compared with 3.0 per cent for the US. The US scored 100 points, Australia scored 37points.

• 21. Peak penetration of online government services: Australia ranked 3rd, Norway ranked 1st.

Electronic service delivery has the potential to deliver significant process efficiencies to government agencies. However, the scale of benefits depends on the take up of online services by the general population. At July 2001, an estimated 25 per cent of Australians actively using the Internet at home were estimated to have accessed online Commonwealth government services, placing Australia 3rd. Norway was ranked 1st with an estimated 32 per cent of persons using the Internet at home accessing national government services of some type at April 2001. Ireland recorded the lowest take up of government services with an estimated 5 per cent of people using the Internet at home accessing online government services.

• 22. E-government rankings: Australia ranked 3rd. The US ranked 1st.

Whether people continue to access online government services is dependent to a significant extent on their personal experience of electronic service delivery. Specifically whether the information they are seeking is readily available, the clarity of information presented on agency web sites, and the response time in terms of accessing information online. On the basis of assessment criteria developed by World Markets Research to evaluate the "functionality" of national government web sites around the world, Australia was ranked 3rd with 50.7 per cent of federal government web sites conforming to all assessment criteria. The US was ranked 1st with 57.2 per cent of federal government web sites conforming to all criteria.

• 23. E-business readiness rankings: Australia ranked 2nd. The US ranked 1st.

The creation of an environment conducive to the emergence and development of e-business opportunities is critical for Australia to maximise its position in the emerging Information Economy. On the basis of research published by the US based Economist Intelligence Unit, Australia with an "E-business Readiness" score of 8.29 ranked 2nd to the US (8.73) in terms of the provision of an environment conducive to the development of e-business opportunities. Of the 14 countries Italy was ranked last. 48% of firms employing 1 to 4 people, reported 5% or more of the value of their sales / orders had originated online.