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ASEAN integration will drive e-systems demand

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

With a young population and integrating economies, e-government and e-commerce systems demand will grow in ASEAN

Mobile telephone and internet penetration is uneven across South-east Asia

Source: World Bank; International Telecommunication Union; UN; Eurostat; Secretariat of the Pacific Community; US Census Bureau; Oxford Analytica

Outlook

The state of economic and technological development between ASEAN countries is uneven, evidenced by imbalances in internet and mobile telephone usage.

As ASEAN economies integrate and grow -- the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) free trade area is now operating -- and as South-east Asia's middle class expands, demand for e-commerce and e-government services will increase. A 2015 study for the ASEAN Business Forum forecast electronic retailing demand in ASEAN's six largest economies would grow 25% each year to 2017 (it produced an estimated 7 billion dollars in sales in these economies in 2013) while all ASEAN countries have agreed the eASEAN Framework Agreement for electronic cooperation, including expanding e-commerce and e-government capacity.

Impacts

  • Demographics will drive ASEAN e-commerce and e-government demand: the region's young, technologically astute population is large.
  • Expanding e-commerce requires enhanced logistics and delivery systems, online security and legal and regulatory protections, and investment.
  • Until then, the more technologically developed ASEAN economies, such as Singapore, will have an e-commerce advantage over ASEAN peers.
  • As governments expand their electronic footprints, the more authoritarian will face greater pressure for transparency, and may pull back.

See also