BuddeBlog

While the fixed-line market is growing at a comparatively slow pace and is overshadowed by frenzied activity in the booming mobile market, fixed infrastructure remains an important component in the overall development of the telecom sector. By March 2008, Asia had a total of more than two billion telephone subscribers; of these, more than 630 million were fixed-line subscribers, the remainder of course being mobile subscribers.

The standout market in terms of fixed-line subscribers is China with its 365 million subscribers representing more than half the total regional subscriber base. As shown in the table below, China is well ahead of the rest of the market in this respect. It is interesting to note that a number of the highly sophisticated telecom markets in Asia are also highly penetrated fixed-line markets; leaders in this regard are Taiwan (63% teledensity) and Hong Kong (54%). These two are followed by Singapore (42%) and Japan (40%).

Of the 35 or so countries in Asia, the top 10 that are listed in the table ‘Asia – Major fixed-line markets – subscribers and penetration – 2007 – 2008‘ could claim 550 million (87%) of the region’s 630 million fixed-line services coming into 2008. As with other segments of the telecom market in Asia, we note the ever-present gap between the developed and developing economies of the region. In the developing economies, the building of essential fixed-line infrastructure has been largely ignored in favour of rolling out mobile networks as a quick way of providing telephone services to the population. In developing countries where governments have tried to force the pace of fixed-line roll-outs, the success rate has been mixed. In the Philippines and Indonesia these programs have been conspicuously ineffective; however, in a market like Vietnam, significant progress has been made, lifting that country up to become one of the more highly-penetrated fixed-line markets in the region at 34% teledensity.

Asia – Major fixed-line markets – subscribers and penetration – 2007 – 2008

(Source: BuddeComm based on ITU data) – Note: ¹ estimates

The other characteristic of the fixed line markets in Asia is that growth has flattened out and in some markets gone into serious decline. The table shows the estimated subscriber base for Asia’s major markets at the end of 2008; many of the listed markets are clearly revealing a downward trend. The two exceptions in this group of countries are Indonesia and Vietnam.

Apart from the voice services supported by the fixed-line infrastructure in the markets of Asia, the bonus of a healthy and extensive fixed network has been its ability to support DSL-based broadband access. This has seen DSL become the most popular platform for broadband access in Asia. This aspect of the market is addressed more extensively in the complimentary publication: 2008 Asian – Broadband Market.

For more information see: 2008 Asian – Fixed Voice Market

This entry was posted on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 1:35 pm and is filed under From Paul's Desk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.