At the recently concluded 2024 Asian Carriers Conference (ACC) in Mactan, Cebu, top industry executives said the Asia-Pacific region still lags behind in the adoption of 5G technology but is rapidly catching up with the rest of the world.
A study by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) revealed that in 2023, only 10% of the global cellular network connections were 5G, while 70% were 4G. However, it is projected that by 2030, 5G connections will increase to 45%, approaching the predicted 50% for 4G.
The Philippines reflects this trend, with 80% 4G and only 6% 5G connections in 2023, but it is expected to shift to 51% 4G and 46% 5G.
In financial terms, mobile revenues are expected to have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2% between 2023 and 2030, marking an increase compared to 2022, due to the monetization and investment in 5G technology.
The strategy towards 5G appears to be working since mobile technologies and services contributed 5.3% of the total Asia Pacific gross domestic product (GDP), which is equivalent to $880 billion.
At this rate by 2030, Asia Pacific’s performance is expected to be higher, at 15%, compared to the global growth of 12%, which is estimated to be equivalent to $1 trillion.
These gains are not limited to mobile network operators (MNOs) but are also expected to benefit the public sector, with an estimated increase in tax contribution from $90 billion in 2023 to $130 billion in 2030.
Julian Gorman, head of Asia Pacific at GSMA, identified four emerging trends in the 5G future:
- The exploration of 5G Advanced and 5G RedCap technologies to provide new enterprise solutions
- Collaboration among MNOs to adopt standardized application programming interface (APIs) for global innovation,
- The exploration of satellites and non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) to enhance 5G coverage
- Utilization of generative AI to drive the “phygital” (combining the “physical” with the “digital”) ecosystem, benefiting users and operators.
In the subsequent roundtable discussion, it was emphasized that investing in 5G network technology is a top priority for MNOs, as it can accommodate current network demands and allows for future improvements without an immediate need to develop a 6G or new network types.
