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Asian countries leading world for internet, smartphone and tablet penetration

Singaporean smartmobile user

Singaporean smartmobile user

South Korea has the world’s highest internet penetration, Singapore is home to the biggest number of smartphone owners per capita, and Hong Kong has the highest proportion of tablet users, according to data from media agency Zenith Optimedia.

Korea reached 100 per cent internet penetration in 2011, a feat that no other country has achieved yet.

Smartphone penetration in Singapore is now around 89 per cent – the highest in the world – and that will rise to 97 per cent by 2018, Zenith predicts in its New Media Forecasts study of 47 countries.

Overall, smartphone adoption is highest in Asia Pacific and Western Europe, and Zenith expect these regions to maintain their lead for the next few years.

Hong Kong can claim to have the world’s highest penetration of tablets, with 77 per cent penetration in 2015, above Singapore, where tablet penetration is at 64 per cent, the world’s second highest. Hong Kong’s tablet penetration is expected to rise to 91 per cent in 2018, Zenith predicts, and Singapore’s grow to 82 per cent over the same period.

“The rapid spread of mobile technology is transforming media consumption and marketing communication across the world,” said Jonathan Barnard, ZenithOptimedia’s head of forecasting. “For more and more people, their smartphone or tablet is the first place they look for information or entertainment. Marketers need a mobile-first approach to communicate with these people effectively.”

Meanwhile, Zenith reports that internet penetration growth is slowing globally in the 47 markets it studied. By the end of this year, there will be 1.9 billion internet users, about 60 per cent of global internet user numbers.

The rate of growth was 3.9 per cent at the end of 2014, down from a rate of 7.9 per cent in 2011. The media agency expects the growth rate to slow further to 2.5 per cent by 2018, when there will be two billion internet users globally.

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