services mentioned above, Japan, although the other countries are catching up, holds the leading position; as for communications and internet banking, the usage rate in Japan has been low for years; Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, are ranked high for both e-commerce and internet banking, showing that internet usage by individual users has been high.

### b. Businesses

International comparison with regard to the broadband usage-ratio and e-commerce (buy and sell) usageratio by businesses shows the following: the e-commerce usage-ratio in Japan, although having reached 79.7%, is the lowest in the surveyed countries; as for the e-commerce usage-ratio, Japan is ranked at the low or middle level.

### c. Public sectors

International comparison of Internet utilization by public sectors, by using the ratio of transactions by individual users in public organizations and the ratio of schools having Internet environments shows the following: as for each of those two indices, Japan is ranked lower than other countries surveyed (Figure 1-3-1-3), and particularly for the ratio of individual-user transactions in public organizations, Japan is ranked at the lowest with the ratio of 18.9%; Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, are ranked generally high, showing the high Internet-utilization in the public sectors.

## (4) ICT-related industries and market

### a. Marketization of Internet services

International comparison of the state of marketization of internet services with regard to the market-sizes of internet-advertising, internet-music-distribution, and online gaming, by using the media-usage share of the services, shows the following: Japan, as the first runner in the high growth rate internet advertising and music-distribution segments, still holds a higher position than other countries in the survey; however, the U.K., Korea, and the U.S. are close behind Japan as shown in Figure 1-3-1-4.; Japan is eligible for certain praise for rapidly developing the internet-service industries and still holding the market size although in a limited area, and also is eligible for recognition for having held strength in the fields. However, at the same time, it has some problems with regard to expansion of the market.

## (5) International-indices analysis and Japan's present problems and potential

In many of OECD countries, ICT-investments have driven the economic growth, and they are expected to increase in importance as a driving force; those situations suggest that ICT-investments still have the role of

Figure 1-3-1-3 Relation of School Internet Development Ratio to Access Frequency by Individuals to Sites of Public Organizations

$ ^{*} $ 18 Countries surveyed

(Japan, Korea, Italy, Canada, Austria, Netherlands, Finland, Switzerland, France, New Zealand, Portuguese, UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Norway)

Based on MIC "Research and Survey on International Comparison and Trends in Information and Telecom Industries and Services" (2012)

Figure 1-3-1-4 Trends in Relation of Internet Advertising Market Size to Internet Music Subscription, and Online Game Service

$ ^{*} $ 27 Countries surveyed

(Japan, Korea, China, Singapore, Italy, Canada, Austria, Netherlands, Finland, Swiss, Australia, France, US, New Zealand, Portuguese, UK, Germany, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, India, Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Norway, Malaysia)