The market is fueled by enhanced mobile phone penetration, increasing e-commerce transactions, and enhanced requirements for real-time customer engagement within industries like banking, retail, and healthcare.

The growth in mobile device usage in emerging economies such as India, Indonesia, and the Philippines is driving the need for A2P messaging. As internet and smartphone penetration grows, companies are leveraging SMS as a trustworthy medium for communicating with users in real-time. The expansion of digital access is driving industries such as banking, retail, and healthcare to embrace A2P for alerting, OTPs, and promotions. The mobile sector's contribution to Asia-Pacific's economy will increase over $1 trillion by 2030, with more rapid uptake of 5G technologies in the region translating into it outpacing average global growth rates, the GSMA's Mobile Economy Asia-Pacific 2024 report says.

The fast growth of online shopping platforms and digital payment systems in Asia-Pacific has driven high demand for A2P messaging. These industries are highly dependent on automated SMS for transaction reminders, authentication codes, and delivery notifications. This trend is especially prevalent in nations such as China and India, where consumers increasingly demand real-time mobile communication from digital services. UPI in India is the most used payments system in the world, with more than 89 billion transactions in 2022. China's Internet Banking Payment System (IBPS) ranks second, with more than 17 billion transactions in 2022.

Asian Pacific governments and enterprises are adopting A2P messaging to improve citizen services and simplify internal communications. Public health notifications, emergency alerts, and reminders for utility bills are commonly sent over A2P platforms. Enterprise applications for customer care, workforce notifications, and B2C messaging are also fueling market growth, particularly in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. March 2025, Singapore telecommunications solutions company Globe Teleservices (GTS) signed three-year exclusive contract to implement its sophisticated A2P SMS firewall solutions for Malaysian cellular operator CelcomDigi.

Increasing adoption of freemium messenger applications like WhatsApp, WeChat, and LINE is placing competition pressures on mainstream A2P SMS vendors. While companies examine more advanced interactive forms of messaging by OTT applications, traffic value and volumes in A2P SMS will come down significantly, particularly where mobile application penetrations are very high in dense marketplaces.

Shallower regulatory environments in various nations create headwinds for A2P service providers. Nations such as India have stringent regulations on SMS traffic and content, where they must comply with DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology) systems. Increased worries about SMS spam and phishing have also led to increased monitoring, which may slow down easy deployment of A2P services across the region.

China is one of Asia-Pacific's largest and most developed A2P messaging markets, driven by robust e-commerce and digital payment ecosystems. Alibaba and WeChat Pay are among the companies that depend extensively on transactional SMS for user authentication and notifications. Although OTT platforms have gained popularity, A2P continues to play a crucial role in critical communications. Local regulation and huge user bases guarantee sustained growth and innovation in China's A2P market. February 2024 - Infobip, a leading global cloud communications platform, is announcing a tie-up with China Mobile International (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. (CMI Malaysia).

CMI Malaysia is a China Mobile International subsidiary, which is the world's number one international telecommunication company. Infobip and CMI Malaysia will, through the tie-up, share Application to Person (A2P) SMS traffic and tap into cloud solutions to enable companies to strengthen existing offerings and optimize customer service on both sides.

The A2P messaging market of India is growing at a high rate because it has a massive mobile user base and a well-developed fintech, education, and government sector. Starting from Aadhaar authentication to school notifications and bank OTPs, A2P SMS is a foundation of the communication. Through the adoption of blockchain-based DLT systems to manage spam, the regulatory climate is becoming increasingly strong, again ensuring secure and scalable A2P communication across the country.

Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) took a milestone leap in India's digital journey with the launch of its Bulk Push SMS A2P Platform and the successful completion of 99% fiberization of its Enterprise Business (EB) Platinum customers all over India on January 2025.

Japan's A2P messaging market is supported by high digital maturity and business adoption across sectors. The market is led by secure messaging for banking, healthcare, and logistics. Japanese consumers value service reliability and privacy, and SMS is a favored channel for sensitive communication.