Cellular technology
The mobile connection landscape in the Asia-Pacific region varies along the spectrum of mature to emerging markets. As expected, mature markets have higher mobile subscription and mobile internet penetration rates. Moreover, post-paid mobile subscriptions are prevalent in more mature markets of the region.Since its launch, 4G has become the most used cellular network technology in the Asia-Pacific region since 2018. The usage of 4G was forecast to account for just over half of all mobile subscriptions in the region by 2030. In 2019, China and Australia pioneered the 5G launch, and now the fifth generation technology is available in an increasing number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region. As of 2022, 5G accounted for a connection share of just four percent across APAC, but was forecast to account for around 40 percent by 2023, with older generations 3G and 2G becoming increasingly obsolete.