Asia on track to emerge as leading force in take-up of 5G

 Mats Granryd, director general of GSMA, which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, said the leaders within Asia for 5G take-up would be Australia, China, Japan and South Korea. 
Work on commercial 5G networks would begin in those countries next year, he said at the Mobile World Congress, which opened in Shanghai yesterday. The number of Asian 5G subscribers would account for more than half of the world’s total of 5G users, Granryd said at the three-day event that is hosted by GSMA.
“Asia’s move to state-of-the art mobile broadband networks reflects the mobile ecosystem’s growing value to the region’s economy,” said Granryd.
“The Asia Pacific region has experienced repaid migration to mobile broadband networks and smartphone over recent years and mobile operators in Asia will invest almost US$200 billion over the next few years in upgrading and expanding their 4G networks and launching new 5G networks in order to accelerate the growth of Asia’s digital economics and societies.”
He said GSMA’s Mobile Economy reported that Asia’s mobile industry added US$1.5 trillion in economic value last year, equivalent to 5.4 per cent of regional GDP. 
Moreover, a 5G commercialisation approaches, 4G also continues to growth rapidly and is now Asia’s dominant mobile technology. The region is the world’s most advanced 4G market in term of adoption. This is led by Japan and South Korea as well as emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, which are seeing an accelerating migration to 4G. By 2025, it is expected that that 62 per cent of Asia’s mobile connections will be running on 4G networks and 14 per cent will run on 5G networks. 
Granryd said 5G will also provide massive connectivity and low-latency services, such as for the Internet of things (IoT), critical communication services including for remote surgery, autonomous vehicles, smart grids and virtual reality.
He said more than haft of the world’s mobile subscribers live in Asia Pacific, which is home to the world’s two largest mobile markets: China and India. At the end of last year, there were 2.7 billion unique mobile subscribers in Asia, equivalent to about 67 per cent of region’s population. This number is forecast to growth to 3.2 billion or 73 per cent of population by 2025. About half the new subscribers added over this period came from India. 
The mobile phone industry in Asia Pacific made an economic contribution of US$1.5 trillion in 2017. The industry’s contribution to Asia’s GDP is set to rise to US$1.8 trillion by 2022 with almost US$170 billion raised in the form of general taxation, Granryd said. 
He said that mobile technology is being used across Asia to bring transformative societal benefits in various areas such as healthcare and education. Meanwhile, mobile networks are a key driver of measurable economic, social and cultural value in Asia.
“The mobile industry is helping people, helping to preserve the world’s resources and positively in people’s life every day. It will help people to discover that in the future. The 5G will delivers exciting immersive experience and transforming the way they are communicating, 360-degree video, we brought you a reality to access,” he said.
Andrew Parker, GSMA’s programme marketing director, said that the 5G mobile network, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence are technology trends that create an intelligently connected world.