LIVE FROM MOBILE ASIA EXPO 2014: The Asia Pacific region accounts for half of the world’s mobile subscribers, and will remain one of the world’s fastest-growing mobile markets “through 2020 and beyond”, according to industry body GSMA’s Mobile Economy Asia Pacific 2014 report.

There were 1.7 billion unique mobile subscribers in APAC at the end of 2013, accounting for half of the 3.4 billion global subscriber base. This is expected to grow at 5.5 per cent a year (CAGR) until 2020, with only sub-Saharan Africa set to increase more quickly.

By 2020, the number of subscribers in APAC will have reached 2.4 billion.

The bulk of the APAC subscriber base is concentrated in four major markets: China, India, Japan and Indonesia, in order of size. Together, these account for three quarters of the region’s subscribers, and more than one-third of the global total.

But the region is also hugely diverse, ranging from “digital pioneers” such as Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea to “discoverer” markets such as India, where the focus is on building networks in rural areas and offering affordable mobile broadband services.

The mobile industry contributed $864 billion to Asia Pacific’s GDP in 2013, equivalent to 4.7 per cent of the total, supporting 3.7 million jobs. By 2020, this is expected to increase to “over 6.9 per cent” of regional GDP and 6.1 million jobs.