E-Commerce Across Australia Assessing the digital divide in

E-Commerce Across Australia Assessing the digital divide in Australia Presentation to the OECD WPIE/TISP Digital Divide Forum 7 December 2000 Phil Malone, A/g General Manager E-Commerce National Office for the Information Economy (phil. malone@noie. gov. au) 1

Today’s Outline • • • E-commerce state of play Business & industry - access / barriers Households - access / barriers Future impacts on regional Australian Government priorities – responses to digital divide (business, community) • Next steps 2

E-commerce state of play (www. noie. gov. au/stateofplay) • 41% of population access Internet (Sep 00) • small business online 60% (Feb 00) - up from 48% (Feb 99) – 84% email, 11% active utilisation • penetration of secure e-commerce - 119 secure servers per million people • relatively low cost of Internet access - ranked 5 th in the world 3

Small/Medium Business & industry • • Access Small - 60% Metropolitan - 64% Non-metro - 55% A. C. T. - 72% Sth Aust. - 55% Bus. services - 81% Construction - 50% • • Utilisation Medium - 17% Metropolitan - 14% Non-metro - 6% A. C. T. - 17% Sth. Aust. - 12% Bus. Services - 15% Construction - 6% (Source: NOIE / Yellow Pages Business Index, July 2000) 4

Barriers for business • Lack of dedicated resources / top management support • Initial set-up costs • Lack of market awareness - security • Infrastructure / e-fulfilment • Small e-commerce market (Source: National Electronic Authentication Council, Feb 00) 5

Households / Individuals Access • Adults online - 66% • • Aged 18 -24 - 73% Aged 55+ - 18% Metropolitan - 52% Non-metro - 39% • • • Utilisation Pay bills/banking - 8% Buy goods/services - 6% Shopping online - 8% Shopping online - 1% Shopping online - 7% Shopping online - 4% (Source: Aust. Bureau of Statistics, August 2000) 6

Future impacts on regional Australia • Insight into e-commerce impact across location & industry • All states are better off • GDP increase of 2. 9% • > half regions gain output and employment • 40% gain output or employment • Only 3 Divisions see lower output and employment (NOIE, E-Commerce Across Australia www. noie. gov. au/eaa) 7

Forecast isolated impact of e-commerce on Output Source: NOIE, E-Commerce Across Australia 8

Forecast isolated impact of e-commerce on Employment Source: NOIE, E-Commerce Across Australia 9

Use of “E-Commerce Across Australia” • Care interpreting predictions years ahead – E-commerce in its infancy – Data is limited • Insights into how e-commerce permeates the economy – Develop policy responses 10

Examples of Insights from “E-Commerce Across Australia” • Leading/lagging in e-commerce adoption is not a prime determinant of ability to benefit • Nor is being metropolitan or nonmetropolitan • Industry structure is what matters • E-commerce means industry re-structuring – need to facilitate transition 11

Today’s Outline • • • E-commerce state of play Business & industry - access / barriers Households - access / barriers Future impacts on regional Australian Government priorities – responses to digital divide - business, community • Next steps 12

Government responses (business/community) • • Information Technology Online (ITOL) Networking the Nation (NTN) IT&T Skills Exchange Building on IT Strengths (BITS) Test-IT Universal Service Obligation (USO) Rural Transaction Centres Legislation conducive to e-commerce growth Source: www. noie. gov. au, www. dcita. gov. au 13

Government responses (community access) • Problems addressed – location / access: 47%, training: 27%, numerous: 10%, affordability: 5%, awareness: 4%, other: 7% • Target groups – regional / remote: 54%, youth: 11%, indigenous: 8%, women: 6%, older people: 4%, other (incl. disadvantaged): 17% (Source: www. noie. gov. au) 14

Government responses (community access) • Interventions used – Access centres: 58% – Hardware / systems development: 10% – Skills development: 7% – Awareness / promotion: 7% – Community development: 6% – Other: 12% (Source: www. noie. gov. au) 15

Next steps • Building the business case - firm-level case studies (cost benefit analysis) • Benchmarking data on digital divide (www. noie. gov. au/stateofplay) • Government policy response - Innovation Action Plan before Cabinet, skills shortage • Regional response - industry restructuring 16

Thank you Contact Details Phil Malone A/g General Manager, E-Commerce National Office for the Information Economy Email: phil. malone@noie. gov. au 17