Data roaming traffic across Asia surged by 245% in the past 12 months, leading international communications enabler BICS has today revealed.
The data – sourced from BICS’ global network which connects over 700 operators and 500 digital service providers (DSPs), and carries over 50% of global data roaming traffic – shows a significant increase in roaming traffic both in and out of the region. This huge uplift is being driven by increased adoption of roaming, new tariffs plans, travel SIMs and IoT devices across the continent, with BICS’ ‘SIM for Things’ enabling roaming for 120+ million IoT devices in Asia.
BICS has also reported that in Q1 2019 outbound roaming traffic from Asia to Europe and the Middle East increased by 88%, compared to Q1 2018. Inbound roaming volumes from the same regions grew by 81%, reflecting continued demand for mobile services abroad from tourists and business travellers. The findings from Asia provide further evidence of a booming demand throughout the world for data roaming, with BICS previously revealing that global roaming traffic increased by 95% during 2018.
BICS anticipates that global data roaming traffic will continue to surge as operators progress 5G roadmaps.
Malcolm Chan, MD for Asia Pasific, BICS
Subscribers now expect high quality, affordable roaming services, whether they’re travelling inside or outside of Asia, while enterprises managing ‘fleets’ of connected devices need uninterrupted, cross-border connectivity.
