APAC fixed communication services market to grow 1.1% annually to 2027

The growth is primarily driven by the increasing adoption of fixed broadband services, particularly in emerging markets.

Data and analytics company GlobalData predicted that fibre broadband will continue to dominate the fixed communication services market in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region through 2027. 

The company's APAC Fixed Communications Forecast Pack (Q4 2022) indicates that fixed communication service revenue in the region is projected to reach $378.5 billion in 2027, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.1%, due to the growing fixed broadband service adoption, particularly in the emerging markets of the region.

At the end of 2022, APAC is moderately developed in terms of fixed broadband adoption, with fixed broadband account penetration of the population reaching 19.7%. The company's forecast reveals that by 2027, fixed broadband account penetration of the population in the region is expected to reach 21.4%, driven by broadband network expansions and service adoption in emerging countries like India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

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Developed Asia, on the other hand, already has high broadband penetration, thanks to national broadband network (NBN) projects in countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Fibre-optic access lines are expected to account for a share of approximately 62% of the total fixed access lines in the developed APAC region by 2027, while its share in the total fixed lines in the emerging APAC markets is anticipated to be relatively high at 90%.

The increasing demand for high-speed internet services and competitively priced fibre broadband plans from operators with benefits such as unlimited internet and access to a major subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) platforms will drive fibre broadband service adoption in the region.

"In India, for instance, Reliance Jio's basic broadband plan starts from 399/month that offers truly unlimited data @ 30 mbps speed, while its popular 999/month plan offers truly unlimited data @ 150 mbps with access to 15 OTT platforms, including Amazon Prime Video, Disney + Hot Star, VooT Select, Zee5, and SonyLIV," said Kantipudi Pradeepthi, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData.

China leads the overall APAC fixed broadband services market, with a remarkable 98% of its broadband subscriptions on fibre optic lines as of 2022. The government's Dual Gigabit Network Coordinated Development Action Plan (2021-2023) aims to expand fibre-optic networks to over 200 million households by the end of 2023. FTTH/B will account for almost 100% of the broadband lines in Singapore by 2027, backed by the aggressive approach and investments by the NetLink NBN Trust in fibre broadband network expansions.

Voice telephony penetration of the population in APAC, on the other hand, will remain stagnant at around 10% throughout the forecast period. While circuit-switched telephony lines will decline at a CAGR of -6.1% over the forecast period, packet-switched telephony lines will grow at a CAGR of 4.3%, as various fibre roll-out programs across APAC encourage consumers to switch to VoIP.

"Despite the increase in the overall voice telephony access lines in the region, fixed voice revenue will continue to decline over the forecast period on account of the increasing mobile voice and OTT voice usage," said Pradeepthi.