GlobalData’s report ‘Malaysia Country Intelligence Report’ states that mobile data services will go onto account for 39% of the total telecom and pay-TV services revenue by the end of 2023 and remain the largest revenue contributor to the overall market through the forecast period.

According to the report, mobile data usage will more than double during the forecast period, reaching 12.5GB/month by the end of 2023, driven by rising consumption of high-bandwidth online video content over smartphones backed by continued rise in smartphone ownership, widespread availability of 4G services and increasing adoption of postpaid plans with high data volumes.

Deepa Dhingra, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, says: “4G will to be the most adopted wireless network technology during the forecast period, driven by continued long-term evolution (LTE) network expansions and improvements by mobile operators. With planned 5G network trials by major mobile network operators (MNOs), GlobalData expects 5G services to be commercially available in Malaysia in 2022 and account for an estimated 1.7% of mobile subscriptions by 2023.”

Fixed broadband revenue will register fastest growth over the forecast period, driven by steady rise in fixed broadband subscriptions backed by government and operator efforts to expand the nation’s fiber network and strong growth in fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) subscriptions across residential and business segments.

Mobile voice revenue will decline over the forecast period due to a significant drop in monthly usage rates as customers shift to over-the-top (OTT)-based communication services. Fixed voice revenue will also register a decline as a result of declining fixed voice average revenue per user (ARPU) and drop in circuit-switched lines.

In the pay-TV market, GlobalData expects that the continued growth in direct-to-home (DTH) and Internet Protocol television (IPTV) subscriptions will drive growth in pay-TV revenues through 2023.

Dhingra concludes: “Operators are currently focusing on driving IPTV subscription base through fiber-based bundled IPTV services and are offering rebates and discounted set up fees to drive DTH subscriptions.”