An analysis of GlobalData's Asia-Pacific fixed communications forecast model (Q3-2021) indicates that the share of fiber lines in total fixed broadband lines in APAC will increase from 90.7% (672.2 million) in 2021 to 92.5% (792 million) in 2026, driven by the growing demand for high-speed internet services, fiber deployments, and ongoing national broadband networks in most countries in the region.

Singapore will have the largest share of FTTH/B lines as a percentage of total fixed broadband lines in the region, reaching almost 100% in 2026. Singapore will be followed by Vietnam, Hong Kong and Malaysia with a share of 96.6%, 93.0% and 92.8%, respectively, in 2026.

Aasif Iqbal, telecom analyst at GlobalData, states: "Government investments and the establishment of NBNs offering wholesale fiber, such as Chorus (New Zealand), NBN Co (Australia) and Netlink Trust (Singapore), as well as operator investments, have been and will be crucial for the widespread availability and adoption of fiber broadband services in the region." 

While national broadband plans have been implemented in developed APAC countries such as Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, the push for fiber optics is moving to developing APAC countries such as India (BharatNet), Thailand (Net Pracharat project) and Indonesia (Palapa Ring project).

Iqbal concludes: “As operators introduce more affordable fiber broadband plans with added benefits such as unlimited internet and access to popular pay-TV and OTT video platforms, the demand for fiber broadband services will only increase. In India, for example, JioFiber’s popular bundled plan includes unlimited data at 150 Mbps for just INR 999 (US$13) per month, along with several SVoD platforms, including Disney+ Hotstar, SonyLIV, Zee5, Amazon Prime Video, Voot Select, ALTBalaji, and Eros Now.”.