But the gap with 5G is narrowing fast.

By Raymond Tan on Jul 26, 2024 12:16PM

5G is now well established across the leading Asia Pacific country adopters, accounting for over 60 percent in South Korea and a third or more of total mobile connections in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore at the end of 2024.  

In countries that form the second wave of deployments, notably India and Thailand, rapid 5G network expansion has led to quickly rising adoption.  

According to a Mobile Economy Asia Pacific 2024 report released by GSMA at the Digital Nation Summit in Singapore this week, commercial 5G standalone (SA) networks are now available in seven APAC countries – Australia, India, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. As of June 2024, 295 operators in 114 markets have launched commercial 5G services.  

The growing focus on advanced 5G networks and services is expected to kick-start a new round of 5G investments in 2024 and beyond. It will also lay the foundation for the next wave of 5G use cases that could unlock new revenue streams for operators and the wider ecosystem in both the consumer and enterprise segments.  

Which industries will benefit most from 5G ? 

GSMA says 5G is expected to add almost US$130 billion (S$174 billion) 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. Financial services and public administration are also expected to be big beneficiaries, as they turn to 5G to digitally transform services and operations. 

“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 new innovation particularly in sectors such as fintech and manufacturing.  
 
“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,” said Julian Gorman, Head of Asia Pacific at the GSMA. 

While 5G is expected to benefit most sectors of the Asia Pacific economy, some industries will benefit more than others due to their ability to incorporate 5G use cases in their business. Between 2023 and 2030, 37 percent of the benefits are expected to originate from the manufacturing sector, driven by smart factories, smart grids and IoT-enabled products, among other applications.  

Other sectors that will experience significant benefits are the public administration and services sectors at 14 percent and 9 percent, respectively. IoT is also gaining traction in South Korea, India and Australia. The increasing availability of low-power, wide area (LPWA) networks is crucial to the widespread adoption of IoT.  

The GSMA report found that other operators in the region however are continuing to prioritise the expansion of 4G capacity in urban areas and the extension of coverage to underserved regions in the short-to-medium term. As a result, GSMA said 4G will remain the dominant technology across the region by 2030, albeit with a much narrower gap with 5G compared to today.  

Large swathes of the APAC region still remain unconnected, despite most of them being within areas where there’s mobile coverage. This usage gap remains stubbornly high in some markets, notably Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Key adoption barriers include lack of affordability, particularly for devices, and a lack of digital skills, particularly among older citizens.  

Satellites and non-terrestrial networks can help reduce the connectivity gap, by bringing communications to the region’s challenging terrains – including archipelagos, rainforests, deserts, and mountain ranges – where traditional infrastructure is expensive and difficult to build 

GenAI’s impact on telcos 

According to GSMA, operators s across Asia Pacific are harnessing the power of GenAI to drive internal transformations and seize new revenue streams through AI investment. We are seeing GenAI used in various domains – such as customer service, sales, marketing and code development – offering immediate opportunities.  

Using AI for network enhancement remains a priority for them. Exploring new revenue streams, regional operators are investing in AI start-ups and organisations while developing their own large language models (LLMs). Tailored LLMs make it easier for operators to deploy high-quality GenAI models swiftly and efficiently.