2007 Asia Mobile Communications and Mobile Data Market Reports

This market report covers 35 countries in the Asia region. It takes an overall look at the various telecoms markets, together with a particular look at the mobile market segments.

Central Asia

The countries of Central Asia have typically been struggling with poor telecom infrastructure and correspondingly low telecom penetrations - both fixed and mobile - for many years now. With fixed penetrations all below 20% (and some considerably less than that), there has been an obvious opportunity for mobile services to fill the gap. It is over the last few years that this has finally started to happen and it is now taking place right across the sub-region. Mobile markets are, in fact, booming; Kazakhstan, the most highly penetrated (49%), has been through a growth surge and was continuing to grow at more than 30% per annum coming into 2007. While at the other end of the scale was the lowly penetrated Tajikistan (4%), whose subscriber numbers grew by almost 150% in 2006.

There is no doubt that the momentum built up in the various markets will see this growth continue for some time. Nevertheless, there are important issues needing to be addressed in the regulatory structure of the markets to ensure a strong and competitive business environment is in place. All the mobile markets have now been opened up to a level of competition, the last to do so being Armenia with the arrival of a second mobile operator in late 2005. The minnow of the markets, Tajikistan, now has six mobile operators! The benefits flowing from the adoption of more open markets have not been consistent across the sub-region, however. In some cases, this has been due to the presence of an overly strong incumbent combined with a weak regulatory regime. And in the case of Kyrgyzstan, general business governance standards were being called into question by the 'transitioning' of mobile operator Bitel into Sky Mobile in 2006 (legal challenges were pending).
Somewhat surprisingly, 3G networks are already starting to appear in Central Asia. Tajikistan was the first of to actually launch a 3G network, with four operators licensed to offer 3G services. Georgia awarded a 3G licence in April 2006, but the network had not been launched by early 2007.

North Asia

After a period in which Asia's mobile industry has been one of the largest and fastest-growing markets in the world, in relative terms a slowdown has occurred, especially in many of the leading national markets in the region. By March 2007, the region had amassed 1.1 billion mobile subscribers. Of these, a total of 645 million were to be found in North Asia. Of course, China dominates the North Asia figures, with its 465 million mobile subscribers.

South Asia

Of the 1.1 billion mobile subscribers in Asia by March 2007, 245 million of these were to be found in South Asia. The growth of the mobile telephony and data markets across South Asia has been dominated by the strong activity in the more heavily populated countries of the sub-region - India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. There was also surprisingly strong activity in the mobile sector in the strife-torn market of Afghanistan, as a competitive market ensured 100% annual subscriber growth. In fact, it is fair to say that all eight countries in South Asia have been experiencing booming mobile markets.

South East Asia

The mobile market in South East Asia consists of a mix of highly penetrated and considerably less penetrated economies. The one consistent element is the period of high growth being experienced across the sub-region. Malaysia is the exception as its mobile market undergoes market consolidation. By June 2007, the region had amassed 1.2 billion mobile subscribers. Of these, a total of around 230 million were to be found in South East Asia. In terms of total subscribers, the market leader was Indonesia (75 million mobile subscribers), followed by the Philippines (49 million) and Thailand (47 million).