This document discusses the growth of mobile internet and broadband connectivity in Asia. It provides statistics on the rapid growth of mobile subscriptions, data traffic from smartphones, and internet speeds in Asia compared to Europe. While internet speeds and connectivity have increased significantly in Asia in recent years, prices for international bandwidth remain much higher than in Europe and infrastructure continues to pose challenges. However, initiatives like China's Belt and Road Initiative and a proposed Asia Pacific Information Superhighway could help further boost connectivity by developing cross-border terrestrial and submarine cable networks across the region. This would provide more resilient and affordable connectivity for both Asian countries and landlocked nations.

1. Abu Saeed Khan
abu@lirneasia.net
Senior Policy Fellow
LIRNEasia
Technology
and
Diplomacy
Mobile
Internet in
Asia

2. Global growth indicators
•Flow of goods
10.5x in 34 years
• 1980-2014
•Flow of services
3.1x in 12 years
• 2002-2014
•Flow of people
1.6x in 11 years
• 2002-2013
Source: UN World Tourism Organization; UNCTAD; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

3. Flowofbandwidth
45xin9years!
Source: TeleGeography; McKinsey Global Institute analysis

4. “It’s a big deal.”
• Nearly 300 submarine cables
spanning over 500,000 miles across
the world’s seabed are the primary
pipeline of transcontinental Internet.
• They are also responsible for $10
trillion worth of transactional value
every day.
• It is greater than the GDP of Japan,
Germany, and Australia combined.
Source: TeleGeography
Global Submarine Cable Map
U.S. Federal Communications Commission
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's
statement on September 17, 2015

5. Mobile Internet in Asia

6. Mobile subscriptions by region and technology
Ericsson Mobility Report, June 2017

7. Data Traffic (PB/month)
of Smartphones in 2016
Data Traffic (PB/month)
of Smartphones in 2022
(44.7%)
(43.2%)
Source: Ericsson Mobility Report. November 2016
10X growth of smartphone data in APAC
Note: 1 Petabyte is 1,000 Terabytes or 250,000 DVDs

8. Fest and Famine of Broadband in Asia
39% 42%
72%
76%
81% 81% 82%
86%
91% 93% 94% 94% 95% 97% 98%
>4 Mbps
5.5
6.5
7.2
7.6
8.5
8.9
9.5
11.0
14.7
16.0
16.9
20.2
20.3
21.9
28.6
Average speed (Mbps)
11.0%
18.0%
19.0%
20.0%
22.0%
32%
35%
37.0%
52%
65%
71%
72%
72%
73%
85%
>10 Mbps
5.0%
5.0%
6.2%
10.0%
11.0%
11.0%
14.0%
19.0%
32.0%
38.0%
43.0%
51.0%
52.0%
54.0%
69.0%
>15 Mbps
The State of the Internet / Q1 2017, Akamai.

9. Continental drift
5.5
6.5
7.2
7.6
8.5
8.9
9.5
11.0
14.7
16.0
16.9
20.2
20.3
21.9
28.6
Average speed in Asia (Mbps)
The State of the Internet / Q1 2017, Akamai.
15.3
15.5
15.5
15.6
16.3
16.6
16.9
16.9
17.0
17.4
20.1
20.5
21.7
22.5
23.5
Average speed in Europe (Mbps)

10. Slower or faster than European counterparts
-9.8
-9.0
-8.3 -8.0 -7.8 -7.7 -7.4
-5.9
-3.2
-2.3
-1.4 -1.4
-0.6 -0.3
5.1
Average speed in Mbps
Source: The State of the Internet / Q1 2017, Akamai.

11. $0.45
$0.53
$0.54
$0.58
$0.59
$0.60
$0.60
$0.60
$0.61
$0.67
$0.67
$0.78
$0.80
$0.88
$0.91
$1.79
$1.83
$2.24
$3.60
$3.77
$7.24
$7.25
$7.69
$10.91
Paris
Amsterdam
Milan
Oslo
Frankfurt
Chicago
Dallas
Washington
London
Toronto
Moscow
NewYork
Miami
LosAngeles
Istanbul
Singapore
HongKong
Tokyo
Taipei
Seoul
KualaLumpur
Jakarta
Mumbai
Bangkok
Source: TeleGeography
Data derived from Q2 of 2017 Weighted Median Monthly IP Transit Prices per Mbps:
Asia’s highest is 12x pricier than Europe’s highest

12. Infrastructure dictates the cost of bandwidth
Terrestrial cables
Submarine cables
Curtsey: Brianna Boudreau, Senior Analyst, TeleGeography.

13. Very good competition
•Terrestrial & submarine TX
Poor competition
All submarine TX
Fierce competition
•Coast-coast terrestrial TX
Broadband’s
biggest barrier
Issues keeping Asia’s bandwidth pricier

14. Submarine Cable repair 2008-2015:
Worldwide average repairs/year
Source: International Cable Protection Committee

15. Submarine Cable repair 2008-2015:
Average time to begin repair
Source: International Cable Protection Committee

16. Submarine networks = Terrestrial networks
Courtesy: Ciena
Evolution of technology = Evolution of policy

17. Technology and Diplomacy

18. A bilateral
move that is
shaping global
trade

20. Rolling on
Belt and Road

22. Best effort by Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1) cable
Owners: China Unicom, Telecom Egypt, Etisalat, Omantel, Djibouti Telecom, OTEGLOBE,
Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd., PCCW, Ooredoo, Mobily, Viettel Corporation,
TeleYemen, Chuan Wei, Retelit, Reliance Jio Infocom.

23. Terrestrial link to
the Bay of Bengal
Terrestrial link to
the Arabian Sea
China Unicom takes a giant leap
AAE-1 via Pakistan and Myanmar
Source: People’s Daily online (March 2, 2016)

24. • 145,000 km meshed across 32
countries (12 landlocked).
• Seamlessly connects Asia and
Europe.

25. Each country’s share in Asian Highway

26. Small step of
Bangladesh for
a global giant leap
• Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has
approved the proposed
amendments to Asian Highway
agreement on August 13, 2016.
• It paves the way to deploy optical
fiber using 145,000 km right-of-
way to digitally interlink Asia and
plug the continent with Europe.

27. “Factories” and “Warehouses” of Internet in Asia-Pacific
Major Content Provider Data Center Locations, 2017

28. Asian Highway is the preferred right of way
for Asia Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS)
•
•

29. Advantages of AP-IS
• Presumed ‘unfriendly’ countries are already interlinked.
• Submarine : SEA-ME-WE 4 and SEA-ME-WE 5.
• Terrestrial: Sino-Russian link (TEA) and Sino-Indian link (Reliance/Tata/Bharti + China Mobile).
• Highly resilient due to mesh.
• Rerouting the traffic means ‘zero’ downtime.
• Installation and maintenance crew/materials available everywhere.
• Creates more opportunities for submarine cables.
• Investments in transpacific rather than intra-Asia.
• Lower latency and higher SLA at lesser cost for international bandwidth.
Open access guaranteed

30. Impacts of AP-IS
National broadband initiatives
will require no subsidy.
• Internet in Asia will be similar to or cheaper than the EU.
• Mobile broadband (HSPA/LTE) will grow like 2G voice.
• Smart devices and Wi-Fi offload will accelerate the data growth.
• Investments in broadband will increase.
• There will be higher ROI in FTTx.
• More international and domestic PoPs/access nodes will emerge.
 Landlocked countries will have bandwidth at equal cost.
 Sub-regional telecoms initiatives cannot delivered that.
 Pacific islands will enjoy reduced bandwidth cost in the mainland.
• International Gateway (IGW) reforms will be accelerated.
• Usage of submarine cables’ purchased capacity will be maximized.
• Carriers will commit longer contracts.

31. Thank you! Questions?