This IDC study assesses the state of wireless local loop (WLL) services in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, and Thailand. Although subscriber growth in slowing in the region's largest market, China, revenues from the service is increasing as the volume of mobile-WLL calls increases. In India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, competition has spurred uptake of the service as WLL offers competitive tariff. The service is deployed by the incumbent in Malaysia as a substitute to fixed-line service, and growth prospect remains as WLL is more efficient to deploy than copper or fiber infrastructure. Thailand is the only market in the region where the future of WLL service is bleak. The monopoly service provider (SP) has very little incentive to promote the service and competition from mobile services is leading to a decline in WLL.

"WLL will stay relevant in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) or APEJ in the foreseeable future as it is an affordable means to bring connectivity to the underserved. Regulators should encourage competition so that more people would benefit from WLL. In markets where there have been competition within the WLL sector such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, WLL has taken off and more individuals have access to telephony services," says Dorothy Chan, senior research manager, Asia/Pacific Communications.