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To: Gene Reardon who wrote (1154)	8/2/1999 12:07:00 AM
From: Julie Simmons	Respond to of 1567

Goldman Sachs report on Asian e-commerce growth. asia.internet.com Asia To Have 64 million Net Users, $32B E-C Revenue By 2003 By Uday Lal Pai InternetNews India Correspondent [30 JULY 1999] Global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs says the number of Internet users in Asia will grow at a compound annual rate of 40 per cent in the next five years to reach 64 million by 2003. This is twice the growth rate expected in the US during the same period. The 'Goldman Sachs Asia Web' reports further says Internet business will generate about $32 billion in e-commerce sales in Asia by 2003. This represents a whopping 145 per cent CAGR growth. It expects Internet advertising into a $1.5 billion industry by 2001. At the end of 1998, there were 15 million Internet users in Asia and the e-commerce market was to the tune of $ 700 million. By the year 2003, China, South Korea, India and Australia will represent 70 per cent of all Asia-pacific Internet users, the report stated. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will offer the best revenue generation potential over the next 12 months, says the Investment Research Report. And advertising and e-commerce will become the most significant revenue drivers for the Internet in Asia over the medium to longer term. The Goldman Sachs report analyses the three main ways of generating revenue via Internet - connectivity, advertising and e-commerce. It provides an overview of Internet growth and profiles few Internet-related companies in Asia. Successful initial public offers (IPOs) will be made by Asian Internet companies with qualified management teams, focused and sustainable business models and backed by strategic investors and/or credible venture capitalists. The on-line advertising market will go through a rapid growth phase since it is a tried, tested and effective advertising medium in the US. The likely dominant markets will be China, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan. Television technology may well become the Internet access device of choice in Asia. There are 110 million cable TV subscribers in Asia and places like Singapore and Hong Kong are increasingly focusing on cable networks to provide Net services. Goldman Sachs study forecasts nine million Internet users in India by 2003. This would imply a 76 per cent compounded annualized growth, the fastest in Asia. The company plans to invest $1 billion in Indian Internet and ISPs.

To: Gene Reardon who wrote (1154)	8/2/1999 12:09:00 AM
From: Julie Simmons	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1567

Keep your eye on FECC this week as ISN has just initiated coverage on them. Symbol: FECC - OTC/BB Internet Stock News Announces Investment Opinion & Features FirstEcom.com Inc. SAN DIEGO, Jul 29, 1999 (BUSINESS WIRE via COMTEX) -- Internet Stock News, one of the Web's leading free destinations for Internet Stock investors, announced today that they have featured FirstEcom.com Inc. (OTCBB:FECC) in this week's issue of their online publication. The update, which was sent to over 90,000 Internet stock analysts, brokers and individual investors after market close on Wednesday, July 28, 1999, can be found at internetstocknews.com and follows below: While e-commerce has exploded in the United States with companies such as Amazon.com and Ebay exploding to multi-billion dollar valuations, online transactions have only recently scratched the surface in overseas markets. Part of the problem for the slow growth is a lack of back-end capabilities to process online transactions. A foreign merchant today wishing to accept credit cards over the Internet would typically make arrangements with a US ISP and a US bank to accept and process the credit card transactions. As a U.S.bank would need to convert foreign currency into U.S. dollars, these transactions would be subject to exchange fees. In some cases the transactions would become subject to U.S. reporting and taxation as they have occurred at least partially on U.S. soil. FirstEcom.com, firstecom.com, (OTCBB:FECC) provides online credit card transaction processing services for merchants outside of North America and focuses on the burgeoning Asian marketplace. The company has developed a low-cost credit processing system accessible to nearly all international merchants with a minimal amount of time and costs. Through an arrangement with a leading bank outside of the U.S. and using proprietary processing systems, the company can approve merchants and carry out credit card transactions for online merchants worldwide. The bank supporting the system is one of very few utilizing First Data Corp.'s (NYSE:FDC) "Gateway" for credit card data outside the North America. (First Data is the processor of 60% of all credit card transactions nationally and nearly all e-commerce transactions worldwide). Under this arrangement, transactions are processed outside the U.S. in a taxneutral jurisdiction. Merchant clients no longer need to use a U.S based ISP, establish relations with U.S. banks, or subject themselves to U.S. compliance or taxation. First Ecom.com will also have the ability to process multi-currency transactions. FirstEcom.com has arranged an impressive list of companies to participate in the development and delivery of its global processing gateway, including the Bank of Bermuda, Open Market Inc. (Nasdaq:OMKT) and Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW). FirstEcom.com Inc. recently announced that it has entered into a development services agreement with Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT) Hong Kong Limited. Under the agreement, Microsoft will develop a payment gateway module for its Microsoft Site Server Commerce Edition, designed to collaborate with FirstEcom.com's back-end payment system. This will provide real-time settlement capability for online merchants and is expected to be completed near the end of August. Many investors today avoid investments in firms concentrating on overseas markets, thinking the rest of the world is in recession. As we see signs of the global economy improving, we will be watching a small group of leading Asian and other overseas-based e-commerce companies as investment opportunities. A recent report by International Data Corp. projects e-commerce to exceed $1 trillion by 2003. The report also noted that U.S. residents made up 44% of Web users in 1998, but accounted for 74% of all commerce conducted over the Internet in that year. IDC expects these numbers to reverse by 2003, with non-U.S. residents accounting for 65% of users and over half of all Internet-based transactions. As a developmental company, FirstEcom.com is, no doubt, a speculative investment. Nevertheless, we note the company has that all important "First to Market" advantage, very little competition and participates in a market poised to explode. For more information about FirstEcom.com (FECC), please visit internetstocknews.com or firstecom.com About Internet Stock News Internet Stock News is a free media publication providing free real time quotes, independent news, research, and commentary about the Internet stock revolution. Written by Ted Kunzog, former digital communications stock analyst for La Salle St. Securities, Internet Stock News also provides its e-mail subscribers with opportunities to find out about ground floor investments in Internet companies conducting Direct Public Stock Offerings. Interested analysts, brokers, institutional & individual investors may subscribe to Internet Stock News for free at internetstocknews.com Members will be periodically informed of ground floor investment opportunities in Internet companies such as America Online (NYSE:AOL), Amazon.com (Nasdaq:AMZN), Excite@Home (Nasdaq:ATHM), CMGI (Nasdaq:CMGI), DoubleClick (Nasdaq:DCLK), DLJ Direct (NYSE:DIR), Etrade (Nasdaq:EGRP), MarketWatch.com (Nasdaq:MKTW), Multex.com (Nasdaq:MLTX), Ameritrade (Nasdaq:AMTD), Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), Lycos (Nasdaq:LCOS), Drugstore.com (Nasdaq:DSCM), Focal Communications (Nasdaq:FCOM), BlueFly (Nasdaq:BFLY), China.com (Nasdaq:CHINA), and Wit Capital (Nasdaq:WITC). Internet Stock News is funded by advertising and commerce agreements as well as investor communications services from IP Equity Inc, the publisher of Internet Stock News. IP Equity Inc. has been compensated with no more than six hundred thousand dollars in cash, stock, and options for providing financial consulting and media relations services for FirstEcom.com Inc. In addition, IP Equity Inc. and its employees, directors, and consultants are believed to own no more than thirty-five thousand shares of FirstEcom.com combined. For more information about Internet Stock News and its feature of Firstecom.com, please visit internetstocknews.com and view the publication's latest ISN Update.