The global proliferation of the internet was born in the United States and rapidly enhanced by Europe’s adoption, but it’s Asia that’s seen as the next driving force behind the World Wide Web’s growth. China, with its phenomenal population and rapidly growing industrial strength, is leading the Asian online push, but while the major companies focus on China’s obvious potential, Yahoo! has taken a more lateral approach; investing heavily in the South East Asian region.

Yahoo! has recently introduced local front pages for the Philippines (yahoo.com.ph), Indonesia (yahoo.com.id) and Vietnam (yahoo.com.vn). The aim of the move is to make Yahoo! the most relevant entry point to the internet for the 500 million people living in the region, which is growing daily.

In addition to the new local front pages, Yahoo! has made major improvements to the content on all its Southeast Asian sites over the last 12 months. The efforts have included the provision of local country and local language versions of their Yahoo! Search, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News Entertainment and Sports services.

“Instead of adopting a ‘one-site’ or ‘one-service’ fits all approach, Yahoo! provides the necessary local relevance that can encourage Internet access and adoption for all users in Southeast Asia” said Reza Behnam, Managing Director, Yahoo! Southeast Asia.

Yahoo!’s investment in the Southeast Asian region is a true indication of the area’s current and future potential. With over 60 million active internet users already, and millions joining annually, these early in-roads into the market should place Yahoo! well ahead of the pack in Asia.

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