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APAC mobile economy to grow to $1t by 2030
The 5G technology is projected to add almost $130b to the region’s economy with rapid growth in mobile internet usage
The mobile industry is expected to contribute over $1t to the Asia Pacific (APAC) economy by 2030 amid the rapid adoption of 5G technologies in the region — exceeding global average growth rates.
In the latest Mobile Economy Asia Pacific 2024 report, GSMA revealed that mobile technologies and services generated 5.3% of GDP across APAC in 2023 which amounts to at least $880b in economic value.
GSMA reported that the number of Internet users is projected to grow from 1.4 billion to 1.8 billion by 2030, increasing the penetration rate from 51% to 61%.
“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,” Julian Gorman, head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA, said.
The report showed that 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%.
Commercial 5G standalone networks, now present in seven APAC countries (Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand), will help fuel this growth, alongside 5G Advanced, RedCap and AI, creating opportunities to launch new 5G applications and kick start a fresh round in 5G investments for enterprises and consumers, GSMA added.
With this development, GSMA expects 5G to add almost $130b to the Asia Pacific economy in 2030, with the manufacturing industry forecast to benefit the most, driven by new 5G-enabled applications including smart factories, smart grids, and IoT-enabled products.
Mobile data traffic in the region will also quadruple during the same period due to an increase in data-intensive content and growth in 5G adoption.
“The large 5G investments mobile operators and governments are making puts many of Asia Pacific’s nations in a leading position to secure strong economic growth, unleashing a new era of innovation particularly in sectors such as fintech and manufacturing,” Gorman said.
“However, in other parts of Asia Pacific, hundreds of millions of people are still missing out. Addressing this usage gap and building online trust are crucial to closing this digital divide and ensuring everyone can benefit from the life-enhancing applications mobile can provide in area such as finance, education, and health,” he added.
