THE Asia-Pacific region will account for half of the global mobile device user base in 2017, driven by investment in infrastructure and innovation in devices and services, a GSMA report said yesterday.

But telecommunications carriers face challenges like surging demand for data while traditional voice and message services decline, the report warned. They have to improve services and seek new business income as new revenue sources, said Anne Bouverot, director general of GSMA (global system for mobile communications association), a major international organization for the mobile communications industry.

By the end of 2012, Asia Pacific boasted over 1.5 billion mobile device users and GSMA sees 1.9 billion by 2017, or almost half of the projected global total of 3.9 billion.

The rapid growth of mobile services and early roll-out of mobile broadband networks are driving profound economic change in Asia Pacific. By the end of 2012, the mobile industry has invested US$80 billion in mobile infrastructure, generating US$1 trillion in gross domestic product for Asia Pacific economies.

"It's the dawn of the new mobile ecosystem with both opportunities and challenges," Bouverot also said yesterday.