The number national 4G subscribers is expected to surge 64 percent annually to reach a 60 percent penetration rate next year, as telecoms are ready launch a new round of 4G promotions, market researcher IDC Corp said yesterday.
There is little chance of local telecoms ending unlimited data rates, dashing shareholders’ long-term hopes of scraping unreasonable rate plans, IDC analyst Andy Ye (葉振南) said.
“Unlimited data plans proved to be an effective way to boost 4G subscriptions last year, as most 3G users migrated to 4G rate plans,” Ye said.
“Taiwan’s telecom market is overly competitive. The big three telecom companies could be reluctant to scrap flat rates, or they might risk losing subscribers to smaller rivals,” he said.
Expanding 4G market shares is likely to be a priority for telecoms, as 4G is a lucrative business that is set to become a major source of revenue over the next one to two years, given higher average revenue per user by 4G users, Ye said.
Next year, telecoms are expected to roll out new 4G rate plans, targeting 3G and 2G users who pay monthly fees between NT$300 and NT$500, Ye said.
The total number of 4G users in Taiwan is expected to increase to about 18 million next year, compared with 11 million this year, IDC said. Taiwan has 29 million mobile users.
The nation’s top three telecoms are expected to hold 90 percent of Taiwan’s 4G market next year, meaning second-tier players, including Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) and Taiwan Star Telecom Corp (台灣之星), could continue to struggle to expand their customer base, Ye said.
IDC said that consolidation in Taiwan’s telecom market is expected over the next one to two years, depending on whether the second-tier players can raise sufficient capital for operations.
Taiwan Star plans to raise NT$10 billion (US$303.49 million) by issuing new shares to existing shareholders by the end of the year.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 telecom, yesterday said it is aiming to seize a 30 percent share of the nations’ 4G market and expects 4G users to make up about 66 percent of its overall mobile subscribers next year.
The company also plans to roll out its new 4G services supporting TDD technology by the end of next year, after obtaining new bandwidth in last month’s second-round 4G spectrum auctions for NT$9.13 billion.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day