The APAC region currently has half of the world’s mobile connections
SHANGHAI – The Asia-Pacific mobile industry contributes more than $1 trillion per year to the area economy, mainly due to the increasing penetration of mobile broadband and smartphones, according to a GSMA report.
The report states that the mobile industry contributed $1.1 trillion to the Asia-Pacific economy in 2014, which represented 4.7% of the region’s gross domestic product, with more than one-quarter of this economic contribution generated directly by local mobile operators.
The study also revealed that Asia-Pacific currently represents half of the world’s unique mobile subscribers and mobile connections and will continue to grow at a faster pace than the global average over the next five years, adding 600 million new unique subscribers by 2020.
“The Asia-Pacific region features some of the world’s most advanced mobile markets, as well as fast-growing emerging markets that are using mobile as a platform to deliver essential services such as education, healthcare and banking,” GSMA Director Anne Bouverot said during a presentation at the Mobile World Congress Shanghai.
At the end of the first quarter of 2015, there were 1.8 billion unique mobile subscribers in Asia-Pacific, representing 45% of the region’s population. China, India, Indonesia and Japan account for more than three-quarters of the region’s subscriber base. Total mobile connections in Asia-Pacific stood at 3.7 billion at the end of Q1 2015.
“This figure represents 50% of global connections. The region is growing faster compared to the other regions,” Bouverot said. Next-generation technology accounted for 9% of connections, a figure expected to reach one-third of the total by 2020.
The GSMA report also reveals that smartphones now represent 40% of connections in the Asia-Pacific region and are set to account for two-thirds of the total by the end of 2020. Bouverot also said that South Korea is the most advanced market in Asia-Pacific in terms of smartphone penetration.
“In terms of LTE penetration, Japan and South Korea are the most developed markets globally. However, in terms of growth, China is leading the way,” the executive said.
