The number of Internet subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region will zoom past those in the United States, making Asia-Pacific the world's largest Internet market within three years.

That is the message from the latest study by Dataquest Inc, a unit of research and advisory firm Gartner Inc. According to the study, the Asia-Pacific region - including Japan, China, South Korea, India, Taiwan and other countries - will have 183.3 million Net subscribers in 2003. The U.S. will have 162.8 million Internet subscribers, and Western Europe will have 162.2 million, Gartner Dataquest said. At the end of 2000, the Asia-Pacific region had 78 million subscribers, up 65 percent from 47.4 million at the end of 1999. According to the study's authors, the region will hit 248 million subscribers by 2005. Gartner Dataquest said three factors will drive rapid growth: lower access costs, improvements to infrastructure, and pent-up demand. The study said the country with the highest projected growth rate is India. Gartner Dataquest said "falling prices and improved infrastructure" will drive average subscriber growth of 44 percent from 2001 to 2005. By that year, the firm expects 21.3 million Internet subscribers in India. In 2005, China will be the largest Internet market in the region, followed by Japan, South Korea and India, Gartner Dataquest said. As of the end of 2000, Japan had the most subscribers with 24.4 million. South Korea was second with 16.7 million, with China (14.6 million) and Taiwan (4.6 million) trailing behind. One area where Asia-Pacific will lag behind the U.S. is revenue generated by Internet subscribers. Gartner Dataquest said this is due to the fact that Asia-Pacific has some of the lowest Internet access rates in the world - which is a driver of growth.