The Hindu Business Line : Public sector driving IT spend in APAC: IDC

The drive for e-Government, operational efficiency and the pressure to build an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) savvy nation is fuelling strong growth in IT spending for the public sector in the Asia Pacific region, according to IDC.

"The public sector continues to be one of the largest IT spending vertical in the region. IDC predicts a strong Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.7 per cent from 2006-2010 with expenditure to reach $ 31.67 billion by 2010," IDC said.

Global economic pressures have also required Governments to evaluate and refresh their national ICT plan so as to remain competitive and relevant.

"Emerging economies like China and India will be huge drivers of IT spending as they build up their ICT infrastructure, whereas mature economies — while showing moderate growth — will be moving up in ICT sophistication. An example of such sophistication is the increased focus on government-to-public interaction and government-to-industry collaborative efforts, driving IT initiatives and service rollout, especially in the education and healthcare sectors," IDC said.

The IDC report projected that China which is lagging behind the mature economies in the adoption of ICT, would see dramatic growth.

"Fuelled by a booming economy, Government policies are driving the consolidation and leveraging of ICT to improve operations and services to the public.

China, with the largest public sector market at $ 6.5 billion in 2006, is expected to almost double by 2010 to $11.7 billion. India and emerging economies such asVietnam will see CAGR of over 16 per cent as they attempt to accelerate the modernisation of their Government and the learning curve of the economy," it said.

Although public entities' IT expenditure in mature economies such as Australia and Singapore would level-off to between 3-5 per cent during 2006-2010, the advances they have made would ensure their continued dominance in public sector initiatives , it added.

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