Next year, 4G subscribers are expected to nearly triple to more than 10 million users as telecoms’ flat rates and strong sales of the new iPhone 6 continue to drive 4G migration, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday.
This year, the number of 4G users is expected to hit 3.3 million, beating IDC’s original projection of 1 million users.
“Over the past seven months, the uptake of 4G [services] in Taiwan has been stunning. The growth has greatly surpassed our expectations,” IDC analyst Andy Ye (葉振南) said during a media briefing.
In the first year of 4G operations, Taiwan’s 4G penetration rate surged to 11.2 percent — a faster adoption rate than Hong Kong’s 6.7 percent and South Korea’s 2.3 percent in the early stages of 4G deployment, Ye said.
He attributed Taiwan’s rapid uptake to telecoms offering flat rates for unlimited Internet access to grab market share.
Sufficient mobile devices capable of using 4G also gave a boost to the migration from 3G, Ye said.
The iPhone 6 launch in September played a major part, because the new models support the 700MHz frequency, which helped boost 4G subscriptions for Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), he said.
Taiwan is the first country in the world to deliver 4G services on the 700MHz bandwidth, he added.
Apart from fast-growing 4G subscriptions, IDC expects new rounds of industry consolidation to occur next year, given the nation’s small market.
“Taiwan’s 4G market size is suitable only for three or four operators,” Ye said.
In September, Ambit Microsystems Corp (國碁電子) acquired a 70 percent share of local 4G license-holder Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) for NT$11.7 billion (US$374 million).
Last month, Ambit also announced a strategic partnership with Taiwan Mobile to offer voice services on the latter’s network, after Ambit’s parent company Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) decided to invest in Taiwan Mobile.
“We expect to see more cooperation between Ambit and Taiwan Mobile next year. We do not rule out the possibility of a merger in the end,” Ye said.
Taiwan Star Telecom Co (台灣之星) spent half of its initial NT$20 billion capital on network deployment and might need a new capital injection to support future operations, prompting speculation that Far EasTone was interested in buying the 4G newcomer, Ye said.
IDC said strong growth in the telecom sector would help boost the nation’s information and communications technology (ICT) industry by 8.5 percent to a record NT$766.8 billion next year, from this year’s NT$710 billion.
Among the four ICT sectors, the telecom service segment is expected to expand at the fastest annual rate of 15.5 percent next year, due to growing 4G services, more Internet of Things devices and strong demand for big data and cloud-computing services, IDC said.
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