Wireless backhaul in Asia Pacific: enabling the 5G era

Please sign in or register for a free public account to access this report.
Asia Pacific is seeing a second wave of 5G rollouts, which started in the middle of 2021 with the launch of commercial 5G services in Indonesia. Several other countries, including India, Malaysia and Vietnam, are soon to follow. This comes after a first wave of 5G rollouts in the region between 2018 and 2020, which resulted in 23 commercial networks, including four fixed wireless access (FWA) networks, in 12 countries. This activity is sparking renewed interest in mobile backhaul upgrades across the region to meet rising traffic demands. Although there is growing interest in fibre and satellite backhaul, wireless backhaul will likely remain the dominant technology in Asia Pacific. This will be underpinned by the growing role of E-band (71–86 GHz) solutions and new technical innovations to improve wireless backhaul performance.
Related research
MWC Shanghai 2025: a window into the future?
MWC Shanghai is in the books for another year, having attracted 45,000 visitors (from 12,500 companies), along with 400 exhibitors and partner groups. The numbers were up from the 2024 event by 13% and 92% respectively. This analysis highlights the key takeaways and implications from meetings, summits and announcements at the event – and in particular, whether the progress seen in China can be mapped to other regions.
GSMA Open Gateway: State of the Market, H1 2025
Representing 285 networks and almost 80% of mobile subscribers worldwide, 73 operator groups are now committed to GSMA Open Gateway. This latest research provides an update on the state of the market, recent developments, and examples of GSMA Open Gateway in action. It also offers a deep dive on supply/demand gap analysis.
5G in Context, Q1 2025
This quarterly review of global 5G developments provides a concise, tracker-style deliverable, presenting key metrics and forecasts. GSMA Intelligence has aggregated the latest data on 5G connections and adoption, as well as information on network trials/launches and spectrum assignments.
Authors
How to access this report
Annual subscription: Subscribe to our research modules for comprehensive access to more than 200 reports per year.
Enquire about subscriptionContact our research team
Get in touch with us to find out more about our research topics and analysis.
Contact our research teamMedia
To cite our research, please see our citation policy in our Terms of Use, or contact our Media team for more information.
Learn moreRelated research
MWC Shanghai 2025: a window into the future?
MWC Shanghai is in the books for another year, having attracted 45,000 visitors (from 12,500 companies), along with 400 exhibitors and partner groups. The numbers were up from the 2024 event by 13% and 92% respectively. This analysis highlights the key takeaways and implications from meetings, summits and announcements at the event – and in particular, whether the progress seen in China can be mapped to other regions.
GSMA Open Gateway: State of the Market, H1 2025
Representing 285 networks and almost 80% of mobile subscribers worldwide, 73 operator groups are now committed to GSMA Open Gateway. This latest research provides an update on the state of the market, recent developments, and examples of GSMA Open Gateway in action. It also offers a deep dive on supply/demand gap analysis.
5G in Context, Q1 2025
This quarterly review of global 5G developments provides a concise, tracker-style deliverable, presenting key metrics and forecasts. GSMA Intelligence has aggregated the latest data on 5G connections and adoption, as well as information on network trials/launches and spectrum assignments.
- 200 reports a year
- 50 million data points
- Over 350 metrics