China, India to account for half of all new mobile subscribers by 2020

SHANGHAI - China and India will account for almost half of all new mobile subscribers expected to be added worldwide by the end of the decade, according to a new GSMA study. The 2017 edition of the GSMA’s ‘Mobile Economy: Asia Pacific’ report, forecasts that India will account for 27% (206 million) and China 21% (155 million) of the approximately 753 million new mobile subscribers expected to be added globally by the end of 2020.

 The Asia Pacific region as a whole is forecast to increase from 2.7 billion unique mobile subscribers at the end of 2016 to 3.1 billion in 2020, accounting for two-thirds of global growth.

Mobile broadband (3G and above) is now the dominant technology in the region, accounting for more than half of connections for the first time last year.

The study notes that Asian markets such as China, Japan and South Korea are also driving the development of 5G mobile technologies. 5G connections (excluding IoT) are anticipated to reach 670 million in Asia Pacific by 2025, accounting for just under 60% of global 5G connections by that point. www.gsma.com/mobileeconomy/asiapacific/ (ATI).