Asia Pacific's Mobile Economy Forecast to Grow to $1 trillion by 2030, as 5G Technologies Accelerate Region's Digital Transformation

• The mobile industry continues to underpin the rapid digital transformation in Asia Pacific, with advanced mobile networks enabling innovative use cases for consumers and enterprises. The role of mobile infrastructure and services will become even more vital to the way society functions as governments increasingly use digital technologies to tackle some of the most pressing social and economic challenges.

• By the end of 2023, 1.8 billion people in Asia Pacific (63% of the population) subscribed to a mobile service. Growth in mobile internet penetration has been remarkable. At the end of 2023, 51% of the region’s population used mobile internet, equating to just over 1.4 billion users – almost triple the figure a decade earlier. However, large swathes of the population across the region still remain unconnected, most of them within the usage gap. Addressing the usage gap is crucial to closing the digital divide and enabling life-enhancing applications around finance, health and education.

• The impact of mobile connectivity is evidenced by its contribution to the economy. In 2023, mobile technologies and services generated 5.3% of Asia Pacific’s GDP, a contribution that amounted to $880 billion of economic value added, and supported around 13 million jobs across the region.

The mobile industry's contribution to Asia Pacific's economy will grow beyond $1 trillion by 2030, with faster adoption of 5G technologies in the region meaning it will exceed average global growth rates, according to the GSMA's Mobile Economy Asia Pacific 2024 report launched on July 25.

Unveiled at the GSMA's Digital Nation Summit Singapore, the report shows that mobile technologies and services generated 5.3% of GDP across Asia Pacific in 2023, a contribution that amounted to $880bn of economic value. Mobile's contribution to the APAC economy over the period of 2023-2030 will outpace the global average, growing by 15% in the region, compared to the global average growth of 12%.

Additional key findings from this report include:

• Mobile internet users in APAC will grow from 1.4bn (51% penetration rate) to 1.8bn (61% penetration rate) in 2030.

• Mobile data traffic in Asia Pacific will quadruple between 2023 and 2030 driven by an increase in data intensive content and growth in 5G adoption.

• Satellites and non-terrestrial networks can help reduce the connectivity gap, by bringing communications to the region's challenging terrains.

• Operators across the Asia Pacific region are harnessing the power of generative AI (genAI) to drive internal transformations and seize new revenue streams through AI investment.

Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA, said: "The growth in Asia Pacific's mobile internet usage over the past decade has been nothing short of remarkable and the region continues to innovate at pace."

Mr Yuen Kuan Moon, Singtel Group CEO, added: "We see the exponential rise in enterprise mobile applications and solutions as a big boost to businesses, especially given the emergence of GenAI and the shift to the cloud as digitalisation continues to accelerate. This is why we've been working with many industry leaders to leverage intelligence, machine learning and robotics and cloudification to improve their productivity and customer engagement as well as innovate and scale their operations. While we ensure that our customers are well-supported in their digital transformation journey, we're also mindful of the need to continue to provide vulnerable groups with access to digital tools so they too can be empowered and engaged in a digital economy."