Universal Connectivity in Asia Pacific: the $230 billion opportunity

This blog was originally published on Mobile World Live.

For much of the last two decades, the digital divide has been viewed primarily as an infrastructure problem. The assumption was that if the networks were built, people would connect. Across the Developing Asia Pacific (APAC) region, that assumption no longer holds. A new study by GSMA Intelligence and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) reveals this stark reality.

Developing APAC is home to 4.3 billion people — more than half of the world's population — and 71% of people use mobile internet, equivalent to 3.1 billion individuals. However, 1.1 billion people live within reach of 4G networks but do not use it. By comparison, only 100 million people remain outside mobile broadband coverage altogether. The region's connectivity gap is therefore no longer primarily about coverage. It is increasingly about enabling people to access and use mobile internet meaningfully, in a way that improves their lives.

The shift from coverage to usage is important because mobile connectivity has become far more than a communications service. As countries accelerate their digital transformation agendas, connectivity provides the foundation for digital public infrastructure, digital services, data-driven innovation, and the adoption of AI across economies. Countries seeking to become digital nations cannot do so if large segments of their populations remain disconnected from the internet economy.

What stops people from connecting?

The study shows that the primary barriers to mobile internet adoption are device affordability and digital skills and literacy. For example, the average cost of an entry-level internet-enabled device in the region is more than 60% of monthly income for the poorest 40% of the population, which is more than 3x higher what is considered affordable. Survey evidence also shows that safety and security, particularly scams and fraud, are becoming increasingly significant concerns. This highlights the importance of trust as a broader enabler of digital adoption. As digital services become increasingly AI-enabled, it is also becoming increasingly important to ensure these are accessible and relevant in local languages.

The barriers to adoption remain unevenly distributed. Women across Developing APAC remain 12% less likely than men to use mobile internet, while rural populations are 25% less likely than urban populations to do so. These disparities are even wider in certain regions such as the Pacific Islands and South Asia. 

These gaps are not just social issues; they are economic issues. Every individual left offline  has limited access to services  and opportunities for economic participation. Closing the mobile connectivity gap by 2030 is estimated to add $230 billion to the Developing APAC economy. And GDP is only part of the story. Universal connectivity would also accelerate progress on poverty reduction, education, healthcare access, financial inclusion, disaster response and environmental sustainability. For many people, particularly in remote and vulnerable regions, connectivity increasingly determines whether essential services and economic opportunities are within reach.

What needs to be done?

The study demonstrates that there is a strong economic case for closing the digital divide, but doing so requires coordinated policy reform, investment, and implementation.

Countries in Developing APAC have made substantial progress to bring more than half a billion people online in the past five years. By 2030, it is expected that more than three quarters of adults will be using 4G or 5G mobile internet. To connect the remaining offline populations will require a total investment of $316 billion. The private sector is expected to generate $132 billion of investment, which means there is an investment gap of $184 billion.

At first glance, that figure appears daunting. However, the composition of the gap tells a more encouraging story. More than half of the investment gap relates not to network deployment, but to improving device affordability and digital skills. In other words, the largest barriers are not engineering challenges but rather policy, financing and development challenges. This calls for holistic multistakeholder strategies that look beyond network rollout and address the conditions that enable people to adopt and meaningfully use digital services.

Historically, connectivity strategies and universal service funds have often focused on infrastructure expansion. While infrastructure remains important, particularly in underserved rural areas, a more balanced approach is needed to address affordability and adoption barriers directly. Supporting device financing schemes, reducing sector-specific taxes, reforming universal service funds and investing in digital literacy programmes will generate far greater returns than traditional approaches alone. Importantly, these policies also help crowd in private investment rather than replace it.

From connected nations to digital nations

Over the next decade, policymakers across Developing Asia Pacific will increasingly focus on AI, digital public infrastructure and national digital transformation strategies. These ambitions are well founded but they all rest on a common foundation: affordable, safe, meaningful and inclusive connectivity. 

Without universal access and adoption, the benefits of AI and digital transformation risk being concentrated among those already connected, further widening existing inequalities.

The good news is that Developing APAC has already solved much of the challenge. With 98% 4G network coverage, the region has built an extraordinary platform for digital inclusion. The task now is to ensure everyone can actually use it. The next phase of digital inclusion will therefore not be defined by network coverage alone. It will be shaped by affordability, skills, trust, accessibility and relevance. Closing these gaps may prove to be one of the most important development challenges — and opportunities — of the next decade.