Malaysia vs South Asia: Mobile cellular subscriptions

Malaysia
139.66 per 100 people
in 2024
South Asia
81.7 per 100 people
in 2025
Malaysia rank
42nd
South Asia rank
43rd

Mobile cellular subscriptions over time

  • Malaysia
  • South Asia
050100150196019922025

How they compare

Malaysia currently reports 139.66 per 100 people against 81.7 per 100 people in South Asia, a difference of 57.96 per 100 people.

That makes Malaysia's figure about 1.7 times South Asia's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 52 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Asia ahead.

Malaysia ranks 42nd and South Asia ranks 43rd of 212 countries.

Malaysia has averaged higher in every one of the 7 decades both report.

Head to head by decade

Decade Malaysia South Asia Difference Ahead
1960s 0 per 100 people 0 per 100 people 0 per 100 people
1970s 0 per 100 people 0 per 100 people 0 per 100 people
1980s 0.0639 per 100 people 0 per 100 people 0.0639 per 100 people Malaysia
1990s 5.22 per 100 people 0.0454 per 100 people 5.18 per 100 people Malaysia
2000s 63.77 per 100 people 12.72 per 100 people 51.05 per 100 people Malaysia
2010s 134.31 per 100 people 74.29 per 100 people 60.02 per 100 people Malaysia
2020s 137.46 per 100 people 85.24 per 100 people 52.22 per 100 people Malaysia

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, Malaysia or South Asia?
Malaysia, at 139.66 per 100 people against 81.7 per 100 people in South Asia as of 2024.
What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between Malaysia and South Asia?
57.96 per 100 people, with Malaysia ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Malaysia and South Asia?
52 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
How do Malaysia and South Asia rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
Malaysia ranks 42nd and South Asia ranks 43rd of 212 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people)
Unit
per 100 people
Source
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
260 places, 13,015 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

Mobile cellular telephone subscriptions are subscriptions to a public mobile telephone service that provide access to the PSTN using cellular technology. The indicator includes (and is split into) the number of postpaid subscriptions, and the number of active prepaid accounts (i.e. that have been used during the last three months). The indicator applies to all mobile cellular subscriptions that offer voice communications. It excludes subscriptions via data cards or USB modems, subscriptions to public mobile data services, private trunked mobile radio, telepoint, radio paging and telemetry services.