The total mobile service revenue in Malaysia is poised to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.5% from $5.1 billion in 2024 to $6.1 billion in 2029. This growth is driven by increasing mobile data consumption, widespread 5G adoption, and a growing preference for OTT communications, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.
GlobalData’s Malaysia Telecom Operators Country Intelligence Report reveals that while mobile voice service revenue will decline at a CAGR of 1.1% during 2024-2029, due to consumer shift towards OTT-based communication platforms and the subsequent decline in mobile voice ARPU, mobile data service revenue will increase at a CAGR of 5.1%, driven by the continued rise in mobile internet subscriptions, growing data consumption, and increasing adoption of higher-ARPU yielding 5G services.
Sarwat Zeeshan, Telecom Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “The average monthly mobile data usage in Malaysia is expected to increase from 21.6 GB in 2024 to 51.9 GB in 2029, driven by the growing consumption of online video and social media content over smartphones, thanks to the growing availability and adoption of 5G services and data-centric offers extended by telcos with their 5G service plans.”
4G accounted for the largest share of mobile subscriptions in the country until 2024. 5G subscriptions will surpass 4G subscriptions in 2025 and go on to account for 84% share of the total mobile subscriptions in 2029, driven by 5G network expansion initiatives of the government and by the operators. As of December 2024, Malaysia achieved 5G network coverage of about 82.4% of populated areas.
The evolution and expansion of 5G networks will also add fillip to the M2M/IoT service adoption in the country, as companies explore new IoT/M2M use cases enabled by 5G networks. M2M/IoT subscriptions are expected to grow at a CAGR of 14.7% over the forecast period, driven by MNOs, such as Telekom Malaysia and CelcomDigi, offering innovative M2M/IoT solutions.
Zeeshan concludes: “CelcomDigi led the mobile services market in Malaysia in terms of mobile subscriptions in 2024, followed by Maxis. CelcomDigi will retain its leading position through to 2029, supported by its focus on 5G network expansions and modernization and its wide range of prepaid and postpaid plans with unlimited calls and data allowances.”
