Global System for Mobile Communications’ new edition of mobile economy report was launched during the four-day event. The report says the world’s mobile subscriber growth will be driven by developing countries from now on. It has particularly projected a substantial growth in Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, as well as markets across Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

“There is a growing adoption of mobile-based tools and solutions that aim to spur the digitisation of systems, processes and interactions across a number of industries, especially in low- and middle- income countries,” said Mats Granryd, director general of the GSMA.

By 2025, the mobile industry is forecast to reach 5.9 billion subscribers, equivalent to 71 per cent of the world’s expected population by that point. It is also expected that 5 billion subscribers will be using their mobile phones to access the internet, up from 3.3 billion last year.

Granryd considers streamlined regulation and further policy developments in three main areas – spectrum, infrastructure and economics – as keys to unlocking the full potential of 5G.

“We are at the dawn of a new era in mobile with the imminent launch of the first 5G networks and the Internet of Things poised to further transform the way we live and work,” he said.

“Meanwhile, operators continue to expand and upgrade their 4G networks in order to provide an evolutionary path into the 5G era, and also evolve their offerings to unlock new revenue streams in areas such as e-commerce, content, lifestyle, advertising and marketing, and identity and security.”

According to the report, two-thirds of the world’s mobile connections will be running on 4G and 5G networks by 2025. It is forecast that 4G will account for 53 per cent of global mobile connections by 2025, while 5G networks will grow to account for a further 14 per cent, following the launch of the first commercial 5G networks later this year.

The organisation noted four key barriers to mobile internet adoption that emerging markets must address network performance, high costs of connectivity and handsets, a lack of locally relevant content, and poor digital literacy.

During the congress, Huawei Technologies Co, a global technology giant, outlined its plans to engage in digital transformation of emerging nations.

William Xu, executive director of board and chief strategy marketing officer at Huawei, said the firm would help operators increase efficiency and drive profitable growth by promoting sustainable development of emerging markets.

“We work hand-in-hand with operators to help them identify valued customers, develop valued businesses, and build valued networks. We enable operators to combine industry policy with the utilisation of existing network resources, and integrate technological and business innovation. Our goal is to help them drive new revenue streams and a positive business cycle of service development and network construction,” he said. The firm has planned to formulate its strategic approach from four angles: user, family, asset, and efficiency.

It will closely cooperate with governments and other industry partners on ICT infrastructure initiatives to introduce new services and deliver innovative solutions, he said.

“By 2025, we will see 2 billion more people with mobile connections, and another 500 million broadband homes. Our commitment has always been to enable world’s operators to build roads to new growth,” Xu said.

Zhou Jianjun, vice president of Huawei carrier business group, said operators must deliver a better scenario-based service and accelerate their return on investment in a bid to capitalise on vast opportunities in emerging markets.

He said the firm would focus on three core areas to help operators meet burgeoning demands on their networks_ industry environment, cooperation modes, and business solutions.

“We are engaging with industry partners to build open, cooperative, and win-win industry ecosystems for ICT infrastructure, and creating business solutions to help operators deliver services that generate new revenue streams while simultaneously improving the quality of life in emerging markets,” said Jianjun.

Statistics show that more than 450 million people were connected to mobile internet, and more than 30 million families had access to broadband services last year. However, three billion people in the world still lack access, 870 million do not even own mobile phones, and 1.1 billion families still do not have broadband connections.

“This offers significant opportunities for operators,” he said.

Yet, he considers infrastructure and industry ecosystems as major obstacles for operators that hinder network development in emerging markets, leading to slow revenue growth and rising costs of network construction, operation, and maintenance.

The firm’s innovative business solutions have generated benefits for operators in emerging markets. For instance, the CloudAIR spectrum cloudification technology maximises spectral efficiency in India and Thailand, he said.