ICT AND NEW DEVELOPMENT PARADIGMS IN S.E.ASIA

A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE ICT INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT AND DIFFUSION IN S.E. ASIA

HIGHLIGHTING SOME EMERGING ISSUES AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

THE ROLE OF ICT IN AN ECONOMY- FOUR BUILDING BLOCKS

ICT Goods Sectors

Information Content Sectors

Communication Network Sectors

‘Informatization’ Sectors

ICT Goods Sector

Create, make and move physical hardware devices used in the processing and display of information( e.g. computers, consumer electronics, telephones, and other information appliances)

The Information Content Sectors

Create, make and move information(e.g. music, video, news and entertainment, software, etc.)

The Communication Network Sectors

Provide the enabling network infrastructures ( wired and wireless) to support the transmission of information between ICT devices.

The Informatization Sectors

(Diffusion of ICT)

Consist of the economic activities of utilizing ICT devices and information contents either for consumption by household users or for production by enterprises in all sectors of the economy so as to increase productivity or quality

ICT Production in S.E.Asia ASEAN-5: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand,

Indonesia, Philippines 1985<US $9 billions

1998>US $92 billions( a ten fold increase in 13 years! Or an

average of > 20% per year)

19852% of World production share 19988.5% of World production share

Summary

S.E.ASIA has emerged as a major regional platform for the production of electronics goods in general and computer equipment in particular over the last 30 years

ICT Diffusion in S.E.Asia

Singapore stands out as further away from the rest of Southeast Asia states.

Singapore rank 10th in the world in terms of ICT spending as % of GDP and 6th as measured in terms of per capita spending

CONCLUSIONS Asean has made tremendous stride in

Leveraging the ICT revolution for economic development primarily through engaging in ICT goods production

Less so in creating information contents Less so in exploiting ICT goods and

information content throughout all economic sectors to enhance productivity and competitiveness

….Conclusions With the exception of Singapore, the

rest of ASEAN have fallen behind in the diffusion and adoption of ICT especially the Internet, e-commerce and wireless (i.e. less ‘e-readiness’)

Manufacturing ICT goods for the world markets has become more competitive with entries from China, Mexico and India.

Reasons for ASEAN Lack of ICT Diffusion Language barriers Slow pace of deregulation of

telecommunications and information content sectors

Adverse impacts of recent financial crisis Slow pace of regulatory reforms and

continued dominance of the ‘old’ economy Outdated industrial policies (e.g. export

oriented manufacturing)