ASEAN 5G Q4 2021 Round-Up: Stronger Momentum in Vertical Collaborations

A. Amir

Summary Bullets:

• Advanced telcos in ASEAN expanded their vertical collaborations and entered the trial and pre-commercialization stages of enterprise 5G applications while others started to form alliances with domestic players to co-create new solutions.

• Smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, and robotics are leading the enterprise 5G development in ASEAN, in line with the global trends.

Q3 2021 was about telcos moving from the network deployment to solution development stages (for more, please see ASEAN 5G Q3 2021 Roundup: Competition Heats Up, October 7, 2021). Moving into Q4 2021, telcos moved to the next development stage through wider collaborations with technology providers (e.g., network vendors, cloud providers) and other industry players to co-develop and trial new enterprise 5G solutions. While most telcos are still in the application development stages, providers such as AIS Thailand and Singtel Singapore are already in the field trial and pre-commercialization phases. In line with the global trends, applications like smart manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, and robotics are leading the enterprise 5G development. This is driven by tangible use cases such as improving operational efficiency and remote operation during the pandemic as well as wider involvement by players in the industry such as ABB, Bosch, Mitsubishi Electric, and Proton.