According to a report from eGlobal, U.S. dominance of the Internet is slipping as the growth of web users is slower than just two years ago.

The eGlobal Report, released by eMarketer at www.emarketer.com, indicates that the number of active users worldwide will climb to 361.9 million by the year 2003, a 178% increase from the 130.6 million people who were actively using the net at year-end 1999.

The report also states that by year-end 2000, only 42% of the world's active Internet users will come from the United States. This percentage will continue to decline as Internet use rapidly accelerates worldwide. By 2003, the U.S. share will drop to 36.9% of total active users.

In 2003, Western Europe will be home to just under 30% of the world's users, followed closely by the Asia-Pacific region with nearly 27%, while Latin America will capture 5.3%. By 2005, the lion's share of Internet expansion will come from the Asia-Pacific region and Western Europe. Because of its considerably lower starting point, Latin America will show the highest growth rate. Key findings include:

B2B e-commerce will continue to outpace business-to-consumer (B2C) ecommerce in all countries worldwide. At year-end 2000, B2B will capture $184.85 billion (79%) of e-commerce revenues and will grow to $1.26 trillion, (87%) in 2003.

Total e-commerce revenues will increase from $233 billion at year-end 2000 to $1.4 trillion in 2003.

The U.S. will continue its e-commerce dominance, capturing 69% of total e-commerce dollars by year-end 2000. By 2003, the U.S. share will have slipped to 59%. Europe and the Asia-Pacific will easily pick up the slack, garnering 35% of total e-commerce between them.

Scandinavian countries far outpace Southern Europe in Internet access and per capita e-commerce transactions.

Russia and Eastern Europe are mostly unwired, but Hungary and Estonia are moving forward rapidly.

Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are far ahead of the rest of Latin America in web users and e-commerce.

Vast portions of the globe remain unconnected. The world's poorest regions, including most of Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and Russia lack the infrastructure and access devices to have large Internet user populations.

Wireless devices are changing Internet markets. Cell phones very popular in Europe, will soon link millions of new users to the Internet. Cell phones will also help e-commerce boom in Asia and Japan, where cellular telephone and personal digital assistant (PDA) penetration is very high.

The eGlobal Report aggregates research data from hundreds of different sources, including Forrester Research, Intelliquest, Jupiter Communications, Dataquest, Datamonitor, Cyber Dialogue and IDC as well as many international research firms such as Pro-Active and www.consult. It is the most comprehensive look at the web published anywhere.

To learn more about the eGlobal Report, or to order a copy, visit eMarketer at www.emarketer.com, or call 212-677-6300.