Hong Kong – Weak business performance offsets strong consumer and government segments

Hong Kong’s position remains unchanged in its group of 25 innovation-driven economies on the Connectivity Scorecard 2010. The country delivers a somewhat mixed performance, with better performance in the consumer segment than on business-related metrics.

Hong Kong boasts strong consumer infrastructure, with high broadband penetration and impressive speeds. It also fares well on consumer usage and skills metrics such as frequent internet usage and uptake of voice telephony services. Hong Kong’s strengths in business infrastructure include high PC adoption, adequate usage of next-generation enterprise connectivity protocols and strong voice telephony penetration. The country also fares well on the government-related metrics, especially in terms of provision of e-government services.

However, the uptake of e-commerce services is surprisingly poor in Hong Kong. It also displays weaknesses in other areas of the business segment, where the proportion of businesses with broadband services and web presence is rather low. In addition, Hong Kong businesses lag behind in spending on IT services.

Some of its weaknesses could stem from Hong Kong’s unique position, and from the lack of adequate data on certain metrics. However, available data suggests a performance gap between large and small businesses in the country. Hong Kong needs to overcome this obstacle in order to fully capitalize on its ICT potential.

Hong Kong Connectivity Performance by Scorecard Component