The production value of the nation’s telecommunications sector rose 34.5 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier on rising demand from telecom service providers and small and medium-sized enterprises.
Statistics released by market researcher Industry and Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) show the sector had a production value of NT$161.1 billion (US$5.1 billion) in the first three months of this year.
The government-funded ITIS attributed the sector’s high year-on-year growth to strong demand and the low base a year earlier.
The market researcher said it expects the robust global demand to be sustained throughout the year and drive production value up 18 percent year-on-year to NT$769.1 billion.
The production value of local mobile phone makers in the January-March period rose 43.4 percent from a year earlier, largely on successful marketing strategies employed by Motorola and Sony Ericsson, the ITIS said.
As a result, shipments of Taiwan-made handsets to the US, Europe and Asia in the first quarter were better than expected.
The personal mobile device segment, on the other hand, was hurt by weaker demand for personal navigation devices (PNDs) from the US and Europe and competition from PND-equipped handsets. The impact was mitigated to some extent as Garmin Corp started selling its products to China and TomTom International launched low-priced models in North America.
In the first quarter, the production value of Taiwan’s PND sector rose 0.7 percent from a year earlier to NT$23.9 billion, the figures showed.
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