Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 telecoms operator, yesterday said revenues from services bundled with tablet devices would make up about 2 percent of next year’s total revenues, riding on the growing popularity of iPad-like tablets.
“We are bullish on the growth of the tablet device market,” Far EasTone president Yvonne Li (李彬) said yesterday. “And consumers tend to use the device primarily to access data services as our survey showed.”
Li’s remark came as the company yesterday unveiled two tablet devices from Samsung Electronics Co and ViewSonic Corp.
PHOTO: BILL CHEN, TAIPEI TIMES
Tablet devices have replaced netbook computers as a telecoms company favorite to encourage customers to use data services such as downloading online games or GPS software.
Apple’s iPad is likely to hit Far EasTone’s outlets in the middle of next month at the earliest, the company said.
Global shipments of tablet -devices are set to almost triple to 50 million units next year from this year, Li said, citing an unspecified researcher’s forecast. In Taiwan, shipments could reach as many as 200,000 units and Far EasTone aims to take 35 percent of that share, Li said.
Next year, tablet devices should account for between 15 percent and 20 percent of total mobile Internet devices purchased by Far EasTone to retain existing subscribers or attract new users, Li said.
The firm plans to launch up to 10 new tablets next year, from five models this year, to boost revenues as average revenue per user (ARPU) for mobile users with tablets reaches between NT$1,100 (US$36) and NT$1,300, Far EasTone estimates show.
That would be between 29 percent and 53 percent higher than the company’s ARPU of NT$851 per month from post-paid subscribers in the first half of this year.
By the end of next year, offering a wide selection of tablets for consumers would help revenues from services delivered on tablet devices make up between 1 percent and 2 percent of Far EasTone’s total revenues, Li said. She did not disclose details about the telecom company’s revenue forecast for next year.
This year, Far EasTone projects revenues to slide a little to NT$59.73 billion, compared with NT$60.06 billion last year.
To cope with growing demand for larger bandwidth from smartphone and tablet users, -Far -EasTone would aggressively -expand its 3G capacity and Wi-Fi network next year, Li said.
The company plans to add at least 3,000 hotspots to the existing 50,000, as most tablet devices would connect to the Internet via Wi-Fi technology, Li said.
Far EasTone provides Wi-Fi services through affiliate Q-ware Communications Co (安源科技).
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