Ict, e-business and Small and Medium Enterprises

Figure 9. Fixed and mobile phone growth in seven non-OECD countries and the 

United States per 1,000 people

1195.6

1,117.90

574.8

364.3

281.1

43.8

743.1

921.4

268.8

385

164.9

182.1

203.6

247.7

88.6

23.1

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1998

1999

2000

2001

Singapore

United States

Chile

Brazil

South Africa

Russian Federation

China

India

 

Source:  World Bank (2003). 

Availability of broadband connections

6

 may affect SMEs’ decisions to adopt e-commerce. 

Broadband faster speeds improve the overall on-line experience for both individuals and businesses, 

encouraging them to explore more applications and spend more time on line (OECD, 2001b). Slow Internet 

connections and data transfer have in fact discouraged some SMEs from adopting Internet: a majority of 

SMEs with 10-249 employees in Austria, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal and the United 

Kingdom indicated excessively slow or unstable data communication as a major hindrance to Internet use 

(Eurostat, 2002).  

Broadband penetration rates have accelerated rapidly in most OECD countries recently although 

it is very uneven across countries (Figure 10). The use of broadband by SMEs is also increasing rapidly. In 

2001/2002 the highest percentage of small firms using broadband (xDSL) connections was 18% in Finland. 

For medium-sized firms, the percentage ranged between 5% and about 30%, much lower than those of 

large firms (Figure 11).  

                                                      

6

. 

Broadband refers to the amount of capacity (or speed of data transfer) provided on a telecommunications 

network via high-speed Internet access. See OECD (2004) recommendation of the Council on Broadband 

Development.  

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