The world is getting smaller thanks to the increasing numbers of people with access to the internet. The number of internet users in the United States is expected to reach 157.3m by 2003 - and poorer regions, too, are getting in on the act, with Latin America overcoming numerous practical hurdles to get its population online.
Equifax, a credit reference agency based in Atlanta, Georgia, is finding a lot of business in Latin America as internet usage spreads like wildfire in the region. Equifax is one the world's biggest providers of financial information and its Equifax Secure arm aims to ensure that net transactions are safe.
Ian McKinnon, director or Equifax Secure in Europe, says Latin America is a growth area. "Surprisingly, we are getting a lot of business in the region," he said. "The fact that they don't have massive physical infrastructure is actually an advantage."
Equifax Secure's experience in Latin America shows that the internet boom is not confined to the US and Europe. The two economic giants are far ahead of the rest of the world in internet usage, but the net is catching on fast in some developing countries. In Latin America, the number of internet users, currently estimated at 10.5m, is projected to rise to between 19m and 37m by 2003.
While analysts may differ on the potential for e-commerce in Latin America, they agree on one thing: the region has a great advantage in its young population, which is where the internet can make the most impact. The Latin American population is much younger in Europe than those of the US, Europe or Japan.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, the financial services group, believes that as it matures, Latin American youth is "more likely to embrace the net for information, entertainment and shopping than their parents or grandparents".
The growth of e-commerce in Latin America faces many constraints. There are fewer PC-owners. The region lacks a sophisticated telecommunications infrastructure and it suffers from weak payment systems, a rickety postal system and low credit card use.
But these are not necessarily insuperable barriers to the spread of e-commerce. Payments can be made through cash-on-delivery couriers, and prepaid telephone cards could be adapted for internet commerce. Internet kiosks in shops, cafes, universities and other public places could make up for the low number of PCs. The lack of PCs is no deterrent to net access, judging by the experience of China, where non-PC access methods are becoming increasingly popular. Personal digital assistants, mobile phones and television set-top boxes were used to get online by nearly 590,000 people as China experiences an internet boom similar to that of Latin America.
Internet penetration continued to skyrocket in the first six months of this year. The number of people accessing the web rose to 16.9m, an increase of 8m since the start of the year, according to the China internet network information centre. More Chinese surfers now use the net to shop online, with 14% of users buying goods or services from internet retailers.
No wonder the Chinese government looks to the internet as an engine for economic growth, although it is also nervous at the prospect of non-party views spreading through cyberspace like a virus. The People's Daily, the official Communist party newspaper, earlier this month warned that "enemy forces at home and abroad are sparing no effort to use this battle to infiltrate us".
But while net use is accelerating rapidly in Latin America and Asia, that cannot be said of Africa, which had just 2.5m users as of June this year. That total is expected to increase to only 4.4m in 2003.
A report compiled by African portal woyaa.com and Unesco, the UN agency on educational and cultural matters, said the number of sites in all African countries, apart from South Africa, is worryingly low. This is due to the dearth of appropriate equipment and infrastructure, the lack of regulation surrounding copyright and security issues, and the low level of awareness of the benefits of the net.
South Africa had the most diverse sites and up-to-date content, followed by sites from Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. Sites in sub-Saharan Africa had the most room for development.
Woyaa and Unesco call for improved training schemes and awareness campaigns as well as higher visibility for African sites through listings on international search engines.
Public sector institutions should also provide a "good example" to other groups by developing comprehensive and user-friendly sites, Woyaa and Unesco argue.
Some international effort is being mounted to help developing countries get their act together. The International Telecommunications Union, a specialised UN agency for telecommunications, is seeking to develop e-commerce in the developing world through its Electronic Commerce for Developing Countries project.
The venture encourages developing countries to use existing infrastructures and services to join the digital economy through partnerships with the private sector. But the £1.7m it has at its disposal is puny.
Even in Latin America, which shows considerable potential, a digital divide is emerging. Brazil, Argentina and Mexico comprise more than 80% of the region's 8m internet users, while Brazil accounts for 60% of e-commerce revenues alone.
Policy makers in the developing world thus face a twin challenge. They have to try and keep up with the US and Europe, while making sure that their own domestic digital divides do not widen.
