SINGAPORE: GSMA, an industry organisation that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide, announced the formation of the Asia Pacific (APAC) 5G Industry Community at its Mobile 360 Asia Pacific event.

The new ecosystem is established for those seeking opportunities to deliver Industry 4.0 and digital transformation from 5G networks, edge-cloud services, enterprise IoT and AI. The Community has been designed for stakeholders across the value chain including government and agencies, industry associations, mobile network providers, enterprises and industry players, solution providers, analysts, and consultants.

"During the Covid-19 pandemic, the mobile ecosystem acted as a lifeline for people, businesses, and society. The industry demonstrated its resilience, and we must now continue to push the boundaries of possibility.

"We are thrilled to announce the formation of APAC 5G Industry Community as a collaboration platform to support 5G industry innovation, application and business opportunities," said GSMA's Head of Asia Pacific, Julian Gorman.

Speared by 12 contributing members, the community also includes the existing IoT and 5G emerging market community, which have over 500 members in more than 30 countries. The APAC 5G Industry Community contributing members include AIS, Axiata, DEPA, DHL, Globe, Huawei, Kominfo, Maxis, MDEC, Schneider Electric, Telkomsel and Viettel.

The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and more businesses are now driving forward with new technologies, with a particular focus on 5G.

"The purpose of the APAC 5G Industry Community is to unlock the power of 5G connectivity so that people, industries and society thrive. GSMA is committed to playing a leading role in supporting and amplifying the vital work our industry is doing at this time," said Gorman.

GSMA predicts that 5G will contribute US$5 trillion to the global economy by 2025, as countries increasingly benefit from the improvements in productivity and efficiency brought about by the increased take-up of mobile services. 5G will benefit all economic sectors during this period, with services and manufacturing seeing the most impact.

"5G will enable the substantive digital transformation of our economy, and the goals of the APAC 5G Industry Community initiative resonate with MDEC. We look forward to effective collaborations with both public and private stakeholders, in line with our vision to lead a progressive digital economy and in support of MyDigital, the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint," said Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation's CEO, Mahadhir Aziz.

Across APAC, while North Asia and the Oceania region are global pioneers for 5G deployment, there is still significant progress to be made in the rest of the region. There is an impetus to provide more support for education to industries, ecosystem development, innovation, and appropriate advocacy.

As such, the APAC 5G Industry Community will seek to build a platform for people who are passionate about 5G and its benefits to industries and enterprises, to connect with peers and share their knowledge to build the next generation of the mobile ecosystem.

"Huawei has been working on digital transformation to support industries for viable paths of 5G connected services in recent years. Now, we have a golden key to open the gate of this trillion USD market for all potential industries to explore more converged technologies and business partner solutions with an agile and open ecosystem alliance platform from the APAC 5G Industry Community foundation," said President of Carrier Business Group at Huawei Asia Pacific Region, Dennis Xiao.

As part of the 5G Industry Community, there are three industry interest groups: Manufacturing, Logistics, Port and Transportation, and Healthcare. These groups will help members by sharing their 5G experiences to foster a learning culture that helps industry partners and innovators innovate; understand industry requirements, explore scenarios and applications of 5G; promote commercial use, reference, and best practices as well as networking by building ecosystems and new partnerships.

"We are pleased to become one of the key contributors of the Community and look forward to engaging more business partners and organisations in the APAC region," added Xiao.