Australia: Size of Domestic IT Market

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Overview:

• Australia’s economy was judged the most resilient in the world (1)
• Australia has an average economic growth of around 3.5% in the last five years, with a forecast growth of 3.2% for 2003, compared to OECD average of 1.9%.
• The Australian political environment is ranked as the most stable in the world (1)
• Australia has an open, transparent and efficient regulatory environment
• Australia has a welcoming, open and direct approach to foreign direct investment

Australia’s dynamic Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Industry is one of the most innovative and dynamic sectors of the Australian economy making it a great place to do business and a logical target for your business [18].

Australia’s ICT industry is a technically sophisticated market that is easy to penetrate, and provides a natural gateway to the fast-growing Asian market.

• Australia is the third largest ICT market in Asia Pacific, after Japan and China.
• Australia is the 11th largest ICT market in the world.
• Australia ranks fourth in ICT spending as a percentage of GDP.
• Each year Australia imports around US$10 billion in ICT goods and services.
• The Australian ICT industry accounts for around eight per cent of gross domestic product.
• The Australian ICT industry has a sustained average annual growth rate approaching 12% over the last 5 years - more than 2.5 times the average growth rate of the Australian economy and producing AUD$50 billion of goods and services in 2001/02 [18].

Australians are amongst the most sophisticated and intensive users of ICT in the world, ranking as leaders in the adoption of leading-edge ICT applications.

• Australia ranks among the top countries in the world measured by standard business and policy indicators, including network digitisation, penetration of personal computers and Internet host density.
• In May 2001 Australia was second to the United States in the Economist Intelligence Unit's "E-business Readiness Rankings".
• Four out of every five Australian businesses use computers, just under three in every five access the Internet, and one in every six has a website.
• Australian homes, businesses and government house the world’s 8th largest installed base of PCs, at over 12.5 million nationally.
• Over 50% of the population has Internet access at home [18].

As Australia's leading business and finance centre, Sydney, the home of CeBIT Australia, has the largest concentration of ICT companies in the country.

• According to Fortune magazine, Sydney was the second best city in Asia-Pacific to do business at the end of 2000.
• Sydney’s economic size is estimated at approximately US$100 billion, which represents 25-30 percent of Australia’s total economic activity. This is equivalent to the economic size of Singapore and about half that of Hong Kong.
• More than 275 global corporations have already chosen Sydney as their regional headquarter [18].