ASEAN needs US$584 billion for digital infrastructure by 2040
Mobile broadband accounts for the largest investment requirement at US$311 billion, followed by data centres and fixed broadband, according to ADB.
ASEAN countries require US$584 billion in digital infrastructure investment through 2040, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The bank puts the requirement at the equivalent of 0.7 per cent of the region’s GDP.
Of that amount, US$311 billion is needed for mobile broadband, US$150 billion for data centres and US$123 billion for fixed broadband. ADB said its estimates cover infrastructure supply, excluding demand-side considerations such as subscriptions, devices and how much data centre capacity is used.
The bank said wider broadband adoption, growing use of digital services and increasing data traffic require the region to expand its infrastructure. Fibre networks provide high-capacity links between users, mobile and wired networks, data centres and international gateways. Domestic and cross-border connections are becoming more important as cloud platforms and data centres expand.
Regional digital corridors and shared infrastructure could improve connections to neighbouring markets and international routes, ADB said. Sharing capacity may be more efficient than building large standalone domestic systems where investment, energy or backbone-network constraints persist. The bank also said coordinated spending on submarine cables, landing stations and overland connections could strengthen network resilience and improve access to international capacity, particularly in underserved markets.
