Spending on IT, Internet, and Telecommunications by Global Small-and Medium-Sized Businesses Nears One Trillion Dollars - information technology - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Information Superhighways Newsletter, Nov, 2000

Annual worldwide spending on information technology (if), Internet, and telecommunications by global small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) is now nearing one trillion dollars, according to the annual Global Small and Medium Business Market Study recently released by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners Inc.

"Worldwide spending by global SMBs on IT, Internet, and telecom reached a staggering $800 billion in 1999. By 2001, we expect this spending to approach an all-time high of one trillion dollars," said Andy Bose, CEO and founder of AMI-Partners, an authority on if, Internet, and communications services and products for the global SMB segment.

Of the total SMB market, six leading economies, comprising the US, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, and Japan, are driving more than 60 percent of the world's spending, representing one-half trillion dollars in 1999, according to AMI-Partners. The six nations' SMBs spent vigorously on wide ranging Internet solutions, which accounted for $40 billion in 1999. AMI predicts this figure will almost double to $77 billion by 2001.

While US SMBs took the lead in total spending in 1999 at $250 billion, AMI-Partners' study revealed that these domestic businesses are seriously lagging in the adoption of two critical technologies: broadband and wireless Internet.

Germany ranked as the premiere adopter of personal computers, high-speed access lines, local area networks, Web sites, and e-commerce, surpassing the US in high-speed access by a factor of three times in 1999.

Specifically, last year, Germany and Japan sped ahead in broadband deployment with 59 percent and 40 percent adoption rates, respectively, while the US only adopted broadband at a 21 percent rate. This gap could significantly narrow by 2001, but only if conditions improve, the AMI Partners study forecasts.

The results also show that Japan, the UK, and Germany ranked as the top three countries, respectively, with the highest adoption of wireless Web phones.

"US small- and medium-sized businesses have fallen behind other leading competitive economies in the horse race for broadband and wireless Internet deployment," said Bose, who cited poor service and support, a troubling legacy infrastructure, and a complicated regulatory system among the key factors crippling the US.