More than half (51%) of the Asia Pacific region’s population used mobile internet at the end of 2023, equating to just over 1.4 billion users or almost triple the figure a decade earlier, according to a new report by GSMA Intelligence. The report also forecasts that 5G will add almost USD 130 billion to the Asia Pacific economy in 2030, with the manufacturing industry forecast to benefit the most, driven by new 5G-enabled applications including smart factories, smart-grids, and IoT-enabled products.

As 4G subscribers migrate to 5G, average mobile data traffic per smartphone will increase and is expected to reach 53 GB per month in 2030. In India, for example, 5G users have been consuming approximately 3.6× as much mobile data compared to 4G since October 2022, according to Nokia’s MBiT 2024 report. The usage gap has also narrowed on aggregate but remains stubbornly high in some markets, notably Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, where 50 percent or more of the population are covered by mobile internet networks but have not yet subscribed to the service.

By the end of 2024, 5G will account for a third or more of total mobile connections in five countries: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea (over 60 percent in South Korea). In countries that form the second wave of deployments, notably India and Thailand, rapid 5G network expansion has led to quickly rising adoption.

By 2030, 5G adoption in developed 5G markets in Asia Pacific will reach 95 percent of total connections, on average, meaning these markets will be among the global 5G leaders. However, the rest of the region will be on the other end of the spectrum, with 40 percent adoption on average. With nearly 80 percent 5G adoption by 2030, Thailand will be an outlier among developing Asia Pacific economies.

The report, which was launched at the GSMA’s Digital Nation Summit in Singapore, found that at the end of 2023, 1.8 billion people in Asia Pacific (63 percent of the population) subscribed to a mobile service. In 2023, mobile technologies and services generated 5.3 percent of Asia Pacific’s GDP, according to the authors, a contribution they say amounted to USD 880 billion of economic value added, and supported around 13 million jobs across the region. Mobile’s contribution to the APAC economy over the period of 2023-2030 will outpace the global average, growing by 15 percent in the region, compared to the global average growth of 12 percent over the same period.

New revenue streams

By 2030, mobile revenues will reach an estimated USD 227 billion in Asia Pacific. Mobile revenues are expected to grow at a CAGR of 2.2 percent between 2023 and 2030 as mobile markets increasingly become saturated. GSMA Intelligence research shows that operators in Asia Pacific prioritise revenue generation over cost savings on a nearly three-to-one basis, when asked about the primary success criteria of network transformation initiatives. Over the same period capex to revenue will fall from 19 percent to 14 percent.

GSMA Intelligence research found that 16 percent of operators in Asia Pacific expect private networks to account for over 20 percent of enterprise revenues by 2025. The licensed cellular IoT market of Asia Pacific will almost double between 2023 and 2030 with a CAGR of 9 percent. Japan leads in the region and will account for just under 40% of total connections in 2030. IoT will also gain traction in South Korea, India and Australia. The increasing availability of low-power, wide area (LPWA) networks is crucial to the widespread adoption of IoT.

Fintech forum

At the Singapore summit GSMA also include The GSMA APAC fintech forum, a new community programme to unite the connected fintech and commerce sectors with Asia Pacific’s mobile network operators.

The fintech forum builds on the GSMA Open Gateway initiative, launched in 2023 and supported by over 280 mobile operators worldwide, serving two thirds of the world’s mobile users. Recently launched online security and anti-fraud APIs are now starting to be used by banks and online retailers to mitigate identity fraud and transaction risks. Asia Pacific mobile operators have been particularly proactive in this area, with operators in Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam committing to launch more online security services.

Federated APIs

GSMA head of Asia Pacific Julian Gorman said this week’s announcement between Bridge Alliance and Singtel to build a regional telco API exchange as a “positive step” demonstrating how the mobile industry, GSMA and “the ecosystem” sees this as a new era of making the power of the network available to not only fintechs but enterprises more widely.

He pointed out that operators across APAC were standing out as a “champion” in driving forward API standardisation, adding that he expects common APIs will soon be available across  Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. These will be either available from operators individually, federated between operators, or federated via aggregators and intermediaries. He said the availability at multiple levels will boost confidence in the enterprise market.

Original article can be seen at: