According to GSMA, operators in Asia Pacific are expected to invest $730 billion towards capex between 2014 and 2020. Further, over the past six years, operators in the region have invested about $430 billion in building up their networks and rolling out services.
The industry body representing global GSM operators underlines that by 2020, the mobile industry will contribute more than 6.9 per cent to the region?s GDP as against 4.7 per cent currently. At present, the telecom industry supports 3.7 million jobs, by 2020 the industry is expected to create about 6.1 million jobs.
Over the next few years, GSMA expects significant growth in 3G and 4G user base in the Asia-Pacific region. It expects 3G subscriber base to grow from 850 million in 2013 to 1.63 billion by 2020. Further, GSMA forecasts 4G subscriber base in Asia Pacific to grow from 102 million in 2013 to 1.34 billion by 2020. Interestingly, out of the total 1.34 billion 4G users, China will account for 900 million, meanwhile, countries such as Korea, Japan, India, Indonesia, etc will account for the rest of the 440 million 4G subscribers.
GSMA has identified South Korea as the first country to have covered 100 per cent of its population by 4G networks. Going forward, the industry body estimates the uptake of 4G services in China is likely to be at twice the rate of the country?s move to 3G. GSMA concludes that there will be almost 900 million 4G mobile connections in China by the end of 2020 against 100 million in 2014.
