3G/4G mobile broadband Internet-access subscribers accounted for 46% of all mobile communication subscribers in the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) market in 2015 and the penetration is expected to rise to 60% in 2017, with 10% of mobile broadband Internet-access subscribers to be 4G (LTE) ones, according to Digitimes Research.
The increase in penetration is mainly because growth in the number of mobile communication subscribers has slowed down, and pre-paid cards take up a large proportion of mobile communication subscribers prompting mobile telecom carriers to offer inexpensive pre-paid cards to provide easy and cheap Internet-access services, Digitimes Research indicated.
In 2016, 113 million smartphones were sold in seven ASEAN countries (excluding Cambodia, Laos and Brunei), accounting for 8% of global total sales. 59% of the 113 million smartphones were of 3G models and 39% were 4G ones. Samsung Electronics, China-based Oppo, Thailand-based True, Taiwan-based Asustek Computer and India-based Lava were leading smartphone vendors in the ASEAN market in 2016.
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