The Asian region has continued to experience a generally stronger run of economic growth from 2005 into 2007 following its earlier financial problems. The region, however, continued to share the concerns of the rest of the world about rising oil prices and, during 2007, remained nervous about the state of the US economy. Nevertheless, its telecoms sector was looking generally stronger in 2007, building on the positive growth in 2006. After some years of consolidation, the region has been initiating a new round of vigorous growth, with considerable activity in a number of market segments. By 2007, Asia had more than 600 million fixed-line subscribers, but this was considerably less than its 1.1 billion mobile subscribers.

With Asia’s developed markets starting to build Next Generation Networks (NGNs), Internet Protocol (IP) was shaping as the premier delivery system for telecom services. The expansion of IP-supporting infrastructure, however, has mostly focused on the developed markets and has been heavily dependent on assistance by governments. At the same time, the development of VoIP services leveraging directly off legacy networks has been much more extensive as it has been pushed by numerous telecom operators.

In looking at the telecom market, it is impossible to avoid the impact of China. With its huge population and strongly developing economy, it is a real presence in the region. However, while overshadowed somewhat of late by China, Japan continues to be a very significant economic player.