GSMA Digital Societies Report, Asia Pacific 2022

Business Wire IndiaThe seventh annual Digital Societies Report shines a light on the progress made by countries within the APAC region in becoming fully fledged digital societies. The report also calls for further collaboration to encourage a consistent approach to integrating digital services into every sector of the economy. Singapore, the host city state for Mobile 360 Asia Pacific, is at the front of the pack, leading the charge towards fulfilling digital nation ambitions by introducing one of the most successful digital identity programmes, Singpass. The digital ID service has amassed 4.5 million users, representing 97% of citizens and permanent residents above the age of 15.
 
Similarly, South Korea has the highest score for digital citizenship in the Digital Society Index, with the pandemic resulting in a sharp increase in the use of e-government services from less than 50% in 2011 to 90% in 2021.
 
As outlined in the Digital Societies Report, countries from across the APAC region can begin to support the realisation of digital nation ambitions by developing five key components: infrastructure, innovation, data governance, security and people.
 
Other key insights from the report include:

• Asia Pacific is home to some of the world’s most successful digital identity programmes. One example is India’s Aadhar which now has more than 1.3 billion registered users. More recently its observed how, in Vietnam, 59 out of 63 localities have launched programmes on digital transformation to be rolled out over the next five years, including 41 localities that are also developing smart city services.
• Digital technologies and services can help provide new growth opportunities for businesses of all sizes across Asia Pacific, contributing significantly to the region’s economic recovery. A report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) estimates that Asia Pacific could reap an economic dividend from digitalisation of more than $1.7 trillion per year, or more than $8.6 trillion over the five years to 2025.
• Recent developments in the use of digital technologies have powered social and economic recovery in the aftermath of the pandemic. Indonesia is undertaking a comprehensive programme for the recovery of the tourism sector, which saw 409,000 job losses. The programme includes initiatives to extend 4G networks to 12,548 villages and the development of a digital platform for the Tourism Network Hub.

 
For more details please visit - https://www.gsma.com/asia-pacific/resources/apac-digitalsocieties-2022/