Southeast Asia's Internet economy to reach $ 300 billion by 2025

[Singapore 3rd Reuters]-According to a report released on the 3rd, the Internet economy in Southeast Asia will grow 39% this year to $ 100 billion and to reach $ 300 billion by 2025. Online shopping is spreading in Southeast Asia, and the popularity of ride sharing is also increasing.

The report was compiled by Google, Singapore's government-based investment company Temasek Holdings, and consultant company Bain & Company. In the report, the net economy in the region (Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines) is expected to expand to $ 300 billion by 2025, and the previous forecast of $ 240 billion has been revised upward.

Southeast Asian online industry has more than tripled in the past four years. Young people in particular are now able to do everything with mobile phones, including access to banking services, games, and ticket purchases.

The report said, “It ’s growing faster than it ’s expected,” “the majority of people have access to the Internet, and consumer confidence in digital services has improved significantly.”

According to the report, over $ 37 billion has been invested in Southeast Asian online companies over the past four years. Most of them were investments in electronic commerce companies such as Giraffe, and ride sharing (online dispatch service) such as grab and gojek. In particular, the investment in ride share is equivalent to $ 13 billion, a four-fold increase from 2015, and is expected to reach $ 40 billion by 2025.

Southeast Asian countries, with an average growth rate since 2014, of 5% per year, are much higher than the global average, and are a promising investment destination as the Chinese economy slows down due to the impact of the trade war with the United States.

According to reports, there are 360 ​​million Internet users in the region. It increased from 260 million people four years ago. According to wearesocial.com, a digital information service, the number of online users worldwide is approximately 4.4 billion, up 9% from the previous year.

<Insufficient regulations and lack of highly skilled workforce>

However, there are several factors that hinder such high growth. Regulatory risk and lack of skilled workers.

The Malaysian antitrust authorities announced on March 3 that they would impose a fine of 86 million ringgit ($ 20.53 million) for grabs taking measures against their antitrust laws.

Singapore this week enacted a “fake news” law that requires social media (SNS) companies such as Facebook and Twitter to remove or correct content that the government considers false. Human rights organizations have expressed concern that they hinder Internet freedom.

The shortage of human resources with high expertise, such as IT (information technology) engineers, is also serious. Even Singapore, which strictly regulates foreign workers, has shown a policy to attract human resources from abroad in this field.

The report pointed out that "Internet companies are working hard to 'fill the gap' but human resources are still a serious problem."