This report provides an overview of the trends and developments in the mobile, broadband and digital economy of the major markets of the Asian region. Subjects covered include:
Market overview and statistics on the major markets of the Asian telecommunication sectors;
Industry and market overviews of the major markets;
Infrastructure developments - Fibre, IP and NGNs;
Mobile communications overview and statistics;
Broadband (DSL, FttH, cable modem and wireless);
Digital media, e-commerce, e-government, e-health and e-education trends and statistics.
The road to closing the digital gap and embracing FttX
Mobile markets in Asia continued experiencing strong growth during 2010. A total of more than 2.6 billion mobile subscribers in early 2011 and an average annual growth of over 25% (excluding the most highly penetrated markets) have combined to see the Asia region have the fastest growing telecommunications markets in the world. With difficult economic conditions and some markets saturating it is not surprising that the growth rate has slowed somewhat over the last year or so. This is after a period where annual mobile subscriber growth rates in Asia had been well in excess of 50%.
Overall regional penetration had reached an estimated 65% going into 2011, suggesting that there was still more room for subscriber growth across the region. More than 12 countries in Asia had mobile penetration levels in excess of 100% going into 2011. Not surprisingly, the global financial crisis had caused some caution in mobile markets across the region for a while, mainly during 2009; after a pause the momentum has quickly begun to pick up again.
Particularly relevant in the context of rapidly growing markets that still have some further room for expansion are India and China where monthly net additions have regularly been close to 10 million subscribers. These two countries combined account for around 60% of overall market share in the Asia-Pacific region.
There is still room for substantial growth throughout the region and we can expect markets with large populations and relatively low penetration rates such as India, China, Philippines, Pakistan and Indonesia will continue to grow at a healthy pace. Growth is being driven by various factors, including government investment to drive the economy; infrastructure building or fixing the after-effects of war as well as major foreign investment projects.
In terms of growth rates, not surprisingly it is the smaller and generally less-developed markets that have been expanding rapidly. More recently, the rate of growth has clearly been much cooler than back in 2007, however; in that year there were seven countries in Asia with annual growth rates in excess of 90%. By 2010 there were no markets with growth rates in excess of 100% (North Korea came in at around 96%).
Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Next Generation Telecoms and Broadband Development
2. Mobile Broadband - Key Trends and Growth as Momentum Builds
3. Mobile Communications
4. Digital Media
5. Digital Economy
6. Smart Grids - an Industry in Transformation
7. Glossary of Abbreviations
