Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation's second-largest cellphone operator, yesterday said the upcoming launch of mobile number portability would not drastically alter the industry's landscape.
The nation's telecom regulator is to allow local wireless telecommunications carriers to offer users number portability starting next month. Mobile users will have to pay a fee of NT$240 to keep their existing cellphone numbers when switching operators.
"We are not worried about mobile number portability," said Far EasTone President Jan Nilsson. "It will have very little impact on the market," he said.
Even before the implementation of number portability, a large number of local mobile users have had the experience of switching carriers, and they have not settled down yet, Nilsson said.
In Hong Kong, 50 percent of 7 million cellphone users changed carriers within two years after the territory implemented number portability in 1999, triggering a price war.
It is logical for industry entrant Vibo Telecom Inc (
Only a small part, about 10 to 15 percent, of Taiwan's 22 million mobile users think that their number is important, he said.
Far EasTone will not take aggressive measures to vie for more users, Nilsson said, but the company is well-prepared for any potential scenario.
Far EasTone has amassed 20,000 3G subscribers since its launch in July.
Chunghwa Telecom Co (
The industry leader said it is not planning to take any drastic measures to cope with the initial stages of number portability.
"We expect market latecomers to cut rates to build a customer base," Chunghwa Telecom spokesperson Shih Mu-piao (
"But the gambit will only lure away subscribers with low average revenue per user," Shih said.
Besides, only 20 percent of cellphone users will consider switching operators after the launch of number portability, he said, citing a recent survey conducted by the Chinese-language magazine Business Today.
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