How is ASEAN a key factor in driving regional growth?
As a home of more than 600 million people, ASEAN’s potential is bigger than North America, EU or even most of BRIC countries. We expect ASEAN to become a major regional economic bloc in the near future, and the game changer for APAC in term of intraregional trade.
Rapid urbanization within several ASEAN countries also plays an important role in attracting investment. In addition, the vibrant and internet-savvy young population in ASEAN means serious business for OTT players, Internet giants and ICT providers in APAC.
However, the digital and economic gap within ASEAN countries is still a concern. Addressing this issue is important - otherwise unlocking ASEAN’s full potential is not possible. Telecom and ICT providers can play an important role to reduce these gaps. TM, for instance, continuously supports this agenda through its active involvements in ACASIA and regional submarine cable projects.
A connected ASEAN and realization of ASEAN Economic Communities (AEC) will further enable ASEAN to enjoy economies of scale and level playing field with other regional economic block.
What role should telecoms carriers and operators play in facilitating regional growth?
Carriers and ICT providers can help boost the growth of vertical industries such as hospitality, FSI, O&G and manufacturing within APAC by providing competitive and innovative solutions like cloud, IoT, media delivery, unified communications and big data solutions.
Cooperation between carriers and public sectors is also critical. Deployment of projects via private-public cooperation can assure cost-effectiveness and successful project implementation. TM has more than 20 years of experience in implementing public partnership projects in Malaysia, and we are ready to share our experience and expertise in other APAC countries.
This article was first published in Telecom Asia Wholesales Insights November edition