GSMA: Mobile Industry Contributing $1.1 Trillion to Asia Pacific Economy

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The mobile industry in Asia Pacific is now worth more than US$1 trillion per year to the region’s economy, fuelled by rising mobile broadband and smartphone penetration, according to a GSMA new report published at the GSMA Mobile World Congress Shanghai today. The report, ‘The Mobile Economy: Asia Pacific 2015’ finds that the mobile industry contributed US$1.1 trillion to the Asia Pacific economy in 2014, equivalent to 4.7 per cent of the region’s GDP, with over a quarter of this economic contribution generated directly by mobile operators.

The study reveals that Asia Pacific now accounts for half of the world’s unique mobile subscribers and mobile connections and will continue to grow at a faster pace than the global average over the next five years, adding 600 million new unique subscribers by 2020. Migration to 4G networks and services in markets such as China is now occurring at a faster rate than was the case in developed regions such as Europe and North America, supported by rapidly expanding 4G network coverage and the increasing adoption of 4G smartphones.

“The Asia Pacific region features some of the world’s most advanced mobile markets, as well as fast-growing emerging markets that are using mobile as a platform to deliver essential services such as education, healthcare and banking,” said Anne Bouverot, Director General of the GSMA. “Today’s report demonstrates how mobile is enabling digital inclusion and building digital societies across Asia, supporting a new era of innovation in areas such as digital commerce, the Internet of Things and mobile identity.”

Asia Pacific Driving Global Mobile Subscriber and Connections Growth

At the end of the first quarter of 2015, there were 1.8 billion unique mobile subscribers¹ in Asia Pacific, representing 45 per cent of the region’s population. Four markets in the region – in order of size, China, India, Indonesia and Japan – account for over three-quarters of the region’s subscriber base. Many of the largest markets in the region are still relatively underpenetrated. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, for example, have a combined population of over 1.6 billion, but a unique subscriber penetration rate of only 36 per cent on average. Connecting these unconnected citizens will therefore be a major focus for both the mobile industry and policymakers in the region over the coming years.

The number of unique mobile subscribers in the region is forecast to grow by 5 per cent per year over the remainder of the decade (2014 to 2020 CAGR), faster than the global average (4 per cent) and making Asia Pacific the second-fastest region globally behind only Sub-Saharan Africa.

Total mobile connections² in the region stood at 3.7 billion in Q1 2015. 4G accounted for 9 per cent of connections, a figure expected to reach a third of the total by 2020. 4G migration varies widely across the region; South Korea and Japan lead the world in 4G adoption, but the region also contains markets where 4G deployments are at an early stage (such as India, Indonesia and Pakistan) or where 4G licensing has yet to take place (such as Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam).

Smartphones now account for 40 per cent of connections in the Asia Pacific region and are set to account for two-thirds of the total by the end of the decade. Alongside expanding mobile broadband coverage, smartphone adoption is driving strong growth in mobile data traffic. According to Cisco, mobile data traffic growth in Asia Pacific will grow at a CAGR of 58 per cent through to 2019, broadly in line with the global average figure, but with major markets in the region such as China and India forecast to grow at a faster rate.³

Mobile a Growing Contributor to Prosperity and Jobs

The US$1.1 trillion total contribution from mobile to the Asia Pacific economy in 2014 (4.7 per cent of GDP) represented an increase of nearly US$200 billion compared to the previous year. Mobile operators directly contributed US$286 billion to the total in 2014, equivalent to 1.2 per cent of regional GDP⁴. It is forecast that the Asia Pacific mobile industry will be worth US$1.8 trillion by 2020, accounting for 5.9 per cent of projected regional GDP by this point.

In 2014 the mobile ecosystem directly and indirectly employed 12.5 million people in Asia Pacific, a figure expected to rise to 15 million by 2020. The industry also makes a substantial contribution to the funding of the public sector, with approximately US$130 billion contributed in 2014 in the form of general taxation. This is set to grow to over US$150 billion by 2020.

“Asia Pacific has a unique opportunity to lead the global development of the mobile-powered digital society, putting mobile at the heart of a new digital ecosystem,” added Bouverot. “By implementing market conditions that encourage investment and innovation, the Asia Pacific region will be able to fully realise the positive transformative social and economic potential of mobile for the remainder of the decade and beyond.”

To access the full report and infographics please visit: gsmamobileeconomy.com/asiapacific

About the GSMA

The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.

For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com.