In a market analysis released in October 2026, intelligence platform GlobalData projected that fixed communications service revenue in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2% between 2026 and 2031.
The revenue growth is driven by expanding fixed broadband adoption in emerging regional markets and led by fiber-optic network infrastructure deployments. According to GlobalData’s Q2 2026 APAC Fixed Communications Forecast Pack, regional fixed broadband penetration will increase from 23.6% of the population at year-end 2026 to 26.6% by 2031.
Infrastructure Expansion and Regional Fiber Metrics
By 2031, fiber-optic lines are projected to represent 86% of total fixed access lines in developed APAC markets and 88% in emerging APAC economies. Developed markets—including Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore—benefit from mature National Broadband Network (NBN) initiatives. In emerging economies, government-backed infrastructure investments drive deployment:
- Malaysia’s Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA) program expanded fiber coverage to 9.94 million premises as of May 2026, exceeding its Phase 2 target of nine million premises set for 2025.
- In India, Bharti Airtel deployed more than 43,000 kilometers of fiber during FY2025–26, extending network coverage past 45 million homes. Reliance Jio offers entry-level fiber plans starting at INR 399 ($4.60) per month for 30 Mbps and INR 999 ($11.51) per month for 150 Mbps bundled with streaming platforms.
- In China, where fiber already accounts for approximately 99% of broadband subscriptions in 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) reported over 32 million 10G PON ports deployed as of May 2026 to support 10-gigabit residential services.
Executive Perspective
“Rising demand for high-speed internet services and competitively priced fiber broadband plans from operators with benefits like unlimited internet and access to major subscription video on demand (SVoD) platforms will drive the fiber broadband service adoption in the region,” noted Kantipudi Pradeepthi, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData. “Despite an increase in the overall voice telephony access lines in the region, fixed voice revenue will continue to decline over the forecast period, as users increasingly shift toward mobile voice and OTT-based calling services.“
Comparative Connectivity Architecture: Fiber vs. SatComms vs. Direct-to-Device (DTD)
While fiber optics provides high-capacity fixed broadband across dense population centers in APAC, non-terrestrial network (NTN) space technologies complement ground infrastructure by addressing geographical constraints:
- Fiber Optics vs. Satellite Communications (SatComms): Fiber delivers high bandwidth (100 Mbps to 10 Gbps) at low latency (<10 ms) and low cost per gigabyte, making it the primary medium for urban and suburban fixed broadband. However, deploying terrestrial fiber across APAC’s complex archipelagos (such as Indonesia and the Philippines), mountainous regions, and isolated island territories carries high civil engineering costs. Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary (GEO) satellite constellations complement fixed fiber by supplying satellite backhaul for remote cell towers, maritime/aviation connectivity, and emergency redundancy when physical fiber lines suffer cuts.
- Fiber Optics vs. Direct-to-Device (DTD): Unlike fiber optic lines that terminate at fixed customer premises, Direct-to-Device (DTD / Direct-to-Cell) satellite architecture connects standard, unmodified consumer smartphones directly to satellite payloads in orbit. While DTD offers lower bandwidth per device (focusing on messaging, voice, and narrowband mobile data from 2 to 120 Mbps), it eliminates mobile coverage dead zones. DTD serves as a mobile extension to terrestrial networks, providing uninterrupted cellular connectivity when users travel beyond fiber-fed cell tower footprints.
Regional Market Outlook
Fixed voice telephony penetration across APAC is expected to remain flat at approximately 10% through 2031, with circuit-switched lines declining at a 0.6% negative CAGR while packet-switched lines grow at 3.1%. As fixed operators utilize fiber bundling to maintain average revenue per user (ARPU), the broader APAC telecommunications market is forming a multi-layered connectivity model: fixed fiber carries dense gigabit traffic, satellite communications provides enterprise trunking and backhaul across remote topographies, and DTD ensures ubiquitous cellular coverage for mobile end-users.
