Internet access can speed things up

BusinessWeek reports that India-based small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) will spend approximately $1.2 billion on improving Internet access and back-end infrastructure in 2007, per a recent AMI-Partners study.

Indians SMBs have stated it is a priority to develop a basic online infrastructure to serve as a foundation for advanced technologies like virtual private networks.

This year online spending is expected to reach $300 million, a 33 percent jump from 2006. And small businesses, defined in india as enterprises consisting of less than 100 employees, will comprise the majority of this figure. Investments in Internet access alone is poised to grow 21 percent.

The study reports that about two-thirds of India's PC-owning small businesses have online access, while nearly all mid-sized businesses are already connected.