NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Southeast Asia’s Internet economy is booming, driven by the ubiquity of mobile phones, rising Internet penetration and a growing middle class, according to a new report by Google, Temasek and Bain & Company.

In the e-Conomy SEA Report 2019, released earlier this month, the companies say that the region’s Internet economy has hit a new milestone, reaching US$100 billion for the first time this year, corresponding to a 39% increase from 2018. The sector is on track to hit US$300 billion in 2025, the report says.

The research, which explores the most significant industry trends observed in 2019 and analyzes the current and future potential of the Southeast Asian Internet economy across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, the region’s six largest markets, found that over the last four years, 100 million people became online users.

Today, Southeast Asia is home to the world’s most engaged mobile Internet users in the world, which total 360 million Internet users, among which 90% of them connecting primarily through their mobile phones.

Photo courtesy of Jaume Escofet.