Credit: Dreamstime
Rapid broadband adoption has sparked an upsurge in fixed communications service revenue across Asia Pacific (APAC).
According to the analyst firm GlobalData, fixed communications revenue is set to increase by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 1.7 per cent to reach US$406.2 billion in 2026.
Looking at the APAC region as a whole, the analyst claimed that fixed broadband account penetration of population reached 18 per cent at year-end 2021.
By 2026, fixed broadband account penetration in the region is expected to reach 21 per cent, mainly driven by the ongoing broadband network expansions and service adoption in emerging countries where governments are infusing investments in fixed broadband network infrastructure development plans.
“The growth in the APAC fixed broadband market will be led by fibre broadband segment, which will see continued growth in the region," said Kantipudi Pradeepthi, telecom analyst at GlobalData. "Fibre-optic access lines will account for a share of about 61 per cent of the total fixed access lines in the developed APAC region by 2026 while its share in the total fixed lines in the emerging APAC markets will be at a relatively higher 80 per cent.”
Meanwhile, rising demand for high-speed internet services and competitively priced fibre broadband plans from operators with benefits like unlimited internet and access to major subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) platforms will continue to drive fibre adoption in the region.
However, voice telephony penetration of the population in APAC remained stagnant at around 10 per cent throughout 2021.
According to GlobalData, circuit switched telephony lines will decline by a CAGR of 7.4 per cent over the forecast period, while packet switched telephony lines will grow at a CAGR of 3 per cent, as various fibre roll-out programs across APAC encourage consumers to switch to VoIP.
“Despite an increase in the overall voice telephony access lines in the region, fixed voice revenue will continue to decline over the forecast period on account of increasing mobile voice and OTT voice usage,” added Pradeepthi.
