| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : FEBRUARY 1, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| INTERNATIONAL -- ASIAN COVER STORY
Who's Ahead in Asia's Internet Race SINGAPORE The country is aggressively promoting Net usage for businesses and consumers. Service providers are engaged in a new price war. Censorship remains an issue. HONG KONG The government recently opened the market for Internet telephony and set up a venture capital fund to invest in local startups. Restrictive immigration policies keep out talent. TAIWAN The electronics sector is taking the lead in using the Net for supply-chain management. The legislature is considering new laws to regulate E-commerce. Critics complain about the slow pace. INDIA No censorship and an abundance of top-notch talent positions India well. The government has finally ended state-owned VSNL's monopoly on Net service. Enabling credit-card use would help E-commerce. MALAYSIA As part of the Multimedia Supercorridor project, Malaysia has been passing legislation promoting E-commerce. But Prime Minister Mahathir, wary of opposition, is imposing new restrictions on Net use. CHINA The laggard. State monopoly China Telecom is driving competitors out of business. Beijing's crackdown on dissent includes Net users. Still, the Chinese are finding ways around censorship. DATA: BUSINESS WEEK _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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