The number of mobile phone subscriptions registered for mobile Internet services in Taiwan soared 30 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of last year to 11.86 million, but actual usage of the Internet function lagged behind, an industry report said.
The increase of 2.71 million mobile Internet subscriptions meant that 48.8 percent of all cellphone subscriptions had access to Internet service functions, said a report released recently by the Foreseeing Innovative New Digiservices (FIND), a Web site run by the Institute for Information Industry to provide professional information on Internet demographics and trends.
GROWTH
In its report, FIND said that the growth was mainly attributable to a sharp rise in 3G data service subscriptions, which nearly doubled from 3.29 million in the fourth quarter of 2006 to 6.53 million in the fourth quarter of last year.
This accounted for 51.1 percent of all mobile Internet subscriptions.
That share outpaced the 32 percent subscribed for the Internet through general packet radio services (GPRS), a clear indication that 3G is replacing GPRS as the mainstream technology for mobile Internet access.
NO INCREASE
The rise in mobile Internet subscriptions, however, has not necessarily led to an increase in mobile Internet users.
A survey conducted by FIND last August and released in January showed that only 9.7 percent of Taiwan’s population, or 2.22 million people, had gone online using mobile devices.
This was only 1.6 percentage points higher than the number of users registered in 2006.
The results showed that mobile Internet use may not be as popular as it appears to be, FIND analysts said.
Promoting its use remained a major issue to be addressed by mobile network operators, the researcher said.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEGOTIATIONS: Semiconductors play an outsized role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development and are a major driver of the Taiwan-US trade imbalance With US President Donald Trump threatening to impose tariffs on semiconductors, Taiwan is expected to face a significant challenge, as information and communications technology (ICT) products account for more than 70 percent of its exports to the US, Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said on Friday. Compared with other countries, semiconductors play a disproportionately large role in Taiwan’s industrial and economic development, Lien said. As the sixth-largest contributor to the US trade deficit, Taiwan recorded a US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US last year — up from US$47.8 billion in 2023 — driven by strong
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
RSS