The wireless local area network (WLAN) market in Asia Pacific excluding Japan and China is expected to cross the $1 billion mark in 2025, according to IDC.
Source: Freepik
The latest IDC Quarterly Wireless LAN Tracker said the WLAN market has regained momentum after a brief slowdown in 2024 due to post pandemic adjustments and backlog normalization. Fresh investments in advanced Wi-Fi technologies, AI powered network management, and large scale campus deployments are now shaping the next phase of enterprise wireless growth.
Stronger Demand for Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6E
Enterprise upgrades from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 are accelerating across the region. Wi-Fi 6E opens access to the 6 GHz spectrum, enabling cleaner and faster wireless performance. IDC forecasts that Wi-Fi 7 will grow more than fourfold in the next five years and account for over 63 percent of the market by 2029. These next generation standards will support high density campus environments and enhance performance for generative and agent based AI applications.
AI Powered Network Automation Gains Traction
Vendors are rapidly embedding AI and machine learning into network management platforms to deliver predictive analytics, automated troubleshooting, and dynamic optimization. Solutions such as Cisco Splunk and HPE Juniper Mist demonstrate how AI driven insights help enterprises improve reliability, reduce downtime, and simplify operations. The shift toward intelligent automation is becoming a critical buying factor in large enterprise WLAN deployments.
Enterprise deployments of Cisco Splunk and HPE Juniper Mist have delivered measurable improvements in network visibility, reliability, and automation, with organisations reporting strong operational gains supported by data driven insights.
Cisco Splunk deployments show up to 80 percent faster incident detection as analytics correlate logs, telemetry, and security events in real time, along with more than 50 percent reduction in mean time to resolution through automated root cause identification and guided remediation. Log ingestion coverage reaches up to 90 percent, giving unified visibility across wireless, switching, security, and application layers. Predictive alerts and early anomaly detection have contributed to over 30 percent improvement in network uptime, while automation has reduced operational workloads by up to 40 percent by replacing manual monitoring and troubleshooting.
HPE Juniper Mist deployments demonstrate over 90 percent accuracy in Wi-Fi user experience scoring driven by AI models that analyse millions of telemetry points per day. Organisations report up to 70 percent reduction in support tickets as the platform proactively identifies issues across clients, access points, and services. Troubleshooting time improves by more than 60 percent due to real time anomaly detection and event correlation, and network rollouts become over 50 percent faster through automated configuration and cloud native provisioning. Juniper Mist also provides consistent service level objective assurance by using AI to monitor application performance, device onboarding, and overall coverage quality across distributed sites.
Campus Networking Investments Continue to Rise
Spending on campus infrastructure, including WLAN, switching, and routing, remained strong in the first half of 2025. Education, government, and manufacturing sectors continue to lead adoption. Wireless LAN is projected to claim a larger share of overall campus networking spend as organizations modernize infrastructure and prioritize wireless first strategies.
Shift Toward Wireless First and Greenfield Deployments
Enterprises in emerging markets are increasingly choosing WLAN solutions for outdoor and greenfield deployments. Wireless first networks offer lower installation complexity, faster rollout timelines, and better scalability than traditional wired architectures, making them an attractive option for expanding digital services.
IDC expects the regional compound annual growth rate from 2024 to 2029 to stay above 4 percent. Nearly half of APeJC enterprise WLAN revenue will continue to come from India, Australia, and South Korea, with strong growth also expected in New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and additional Southeast Asian markets.
Amit Bansal, senior research manager for the Enterprise Computing Networking Group at IDC Asia Pacific, noted that AI enabled tools are transforming wireless performance. “AI and machine learning are now being integrated into the software controls, which can help predict traffic and allocate optimal spectrum for best performance, along with self healing wireless infrastructure,” he said.
IDC said vendors offering end to end solutions that combine switching, wireless LAN, security, and AI capabilities are well positioned to lead the next wave of growth.
Rajani Baburajan
