Carrier strategies, 5G network upgrades fuel APAC mobile expansion in 2025

Asia-Pacific's mobile industry had sustained growth at the end of 2025 in subscribers and revenue, led by increased demand and improved network infrastructure across the region. With the 16 markets studied, the region topped 4.4 billion total subscribers and over $310.42 billion in combined mobile service revenue, growing 2.3% and 3.1%, respectively, from the previous year, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence Kagan.

Subscription growth drivers vary in mature and emerging markets

Asia-Pacific markets reported over 4 billion total subscribers at the end of 2025, which resulted in 2.3% growth year over year. Australia leads the region in year-over-year growth, ending 2025 with 5.0% year-over-year growth, followed by Indonesia, India, the Philippines and Singapore, respectively. All five markets are highlighted by their high penetration rates, owing to the popularity of multi-device ownership through secondary mobile phones or bundled smart-home devices. The Asia-Pacific region's mix of mature markets, including Australia, Japan and mainland China, and emerging markets, such as Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, leaves room for further growth and development in the following years as the region bolsters its infrastructure for 5G and subsequent mobile technologies.

Mainland China and India remain the region's most populous markets with 1.78 billion and 1.17 billion subscribers, respectively, at the end of 2025, and are both expected to maintain their subscriber lead in the region through 2031, with mainland China's mature network infrastructure and India's persistent rollout of its 5G network. Indonesia, on the other hand, is positioned to be the third-most populous market in the same period, despite challenges in nationwide coverage due to the market's archipelagic nature and decentralized towerco structure.

5G expansion prioritizes urban centers through partnerships and spectrum deals, while rural rollout faces terrain and cost challenges

The region is characterized as a dynamic region with a mix of mature and emerging markets for mobile services. Most urban centers in the region will have robust infrastructure for LTE and 5G, but vary toward the nonurban areas, where terrain, infrastructure and energy expenses remain challenges against nationwide coverage for 5G.

Indonesia has recently taken steps toward nationwide 5G coverage with PT XLSMART Telecom Sejahtera Tbk's recent partnership with ZTE Corp. The effort focuses on the joint development of their 5G sites in major urban areas in the market throughout 2026, aiming to accelerate 5G's rollout and its major commercial hubs. While the effort focuses primarily on the country's urban centers, the development of its 5G sites serves as a stable foundation for eventual nonurban rollouts of the technology.

Thailand, on the other hand, ended 2025 with its most recent 5G spectrum auction amounting to over $1.28 billion. The auction focused primarily on midband spectrum for primary deployment in its urban centers and eventually for rural areas. Thailand's two largest players in its telecommunications market, True Corp. and Advanced Info Service PCL, sought to maximize their commercial reach through purchases in the 2100 MHz and 2300 MHz bands, balancing reach and reliability.

Carriers divest tower assets to independent towercos to refocus on data services

Asia-Pacific's telco tower industry follows the general trend of carriers offloading their tower assets to independent tower companies to reduce overall cost and to focus their finances on mobile data services. We estimated the region to finish 2025 with around 6.3 million total towers and expect it to grow to over 7 million total tower sites through 2031. Continued 5G rollouts and adoption are expected to drive small cells to over 4 million sites in that same period.

Further analyses on the Asia-Pacific tower industry can be found in our latest tower and small-cell projections article and regional tower deals article.

Mainland China and India uphold mobile leadership

Leading mobile operators in the region remain focused on improving their 5G networks in terms of overall reliability and coverage. Recent trends in the consumer segment highlight bundled offerings of data and voice services, with options available for value-added services such as streaming and social media access. Popular "all-in-one" offerings help drive carrier revenue despite customers generally holding on to their devices longer due to changing spending habits. At the end of 2025, the top 15 mobile carriers in the region accounted for over 85% of Asia-Pacific's total subscribers, with China Mobile Ltd. and Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. representing mainland China and India, respectively.

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^{This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.}