5G access expected to speed up over Asia Pacific but usage gap remains weighty: GSMA

Even though mobile broadband covers 96% of the region, it records the largest regional usage gap worldwide.

GSMA, a London-headquartered organisation, representing global mobile network operators, has published its latest Mobile Economy Asia Pacific Report 2022, delivering a detailed picture of the region’s adoption of mobile broadband.

According to the report, by 2025, there will be more than 400 million 5G connections in the Asia Pacific region, equivalent to just over 14% of total mobile connections. With progress being more advanced in countries like Australia, Japan and South Korea and in Singapore 5G is expected to account for 55% of the country’s connections by 2025.

The region's adoption of 5G continues to pickup steam, with as many as 14 markets already offering commercial 5G services and India and Vietnam among others are set to follow suit in the upcoming years with 400 million 5G connections estimated to exist in the region by 2025, said GSMA.

At present, mobile broadband networks cover around 96% of the population, a testament to operators’ investment in 3G, 4G and, increasingly, 5G infrastructure. However, just 44% of the population (1.23 billion users) are using mobile internet services, said the report.

The reasons for this discrepancy include lack of digital skills, affordability and online safety concerns. “Addressing the usage gap and extending the benefits of the internet to more people in society is critical,” said GSMA’s Head of Asia Pacific, Julian Gorman. “However, it will require a concerted effort by a broad range of stakeholders, working together with mobile operators and other ecosystem players such as device manufacturers and digital content creators, to drive adoption and overcome the barriers we see today.”

The report stated that the Asia Pacific mobile ecosystem continues to make a significant economic contribution, contributing 5% of the region's GDP, or 770 billion dollars in added economic value. The mobile ecosystem also support 8.8 million jobs both directly and indirectly.

The report also inspects the advent of the metaverse and highlights various 5G use cases and other related activities in the region. Notably, government bodies in the region have started outlining plans to harness the potential of the platform to increase the efficiency and quality of public services.

According to GSMA, as of April 2022, 25 operators in 18 countries had launched commercial 5G stanalone (SA) services with the Asia Pacific leading the way.

The capabilities of 5G to enable next-generation services like cloud services, AI, IoT, and edge computing will spur digital economic growth and innovation as 5G network roll outs proceed. To fully realize the advantages of 5G, however governments will need to take proactive measures to promote spectrum availability in 5G bands and guarantee that the required spectrum resources are accessible at the appropriate times, locations, and conditions.