Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday called on its local peers to set “rational” 5G flat rates, as the low rates in the market are harmful to the industry.
Far EasTone said that a monthly rate of NT$1,399 for unlimited data is too low to make a decent profit after deducting a handset subsidy of about NT$400.
The market situation contributed to poor financial performances by the nation’s smaller telecoms such as Taiwan Star Corp (台灣之星) and Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信), the company said.
Photo courtesy of Far EasTone Telecommunications Co
Telecoms registered a surge in data traffic when many Taiwanese worked from home during a level 3 COVID-19 alert, but their revenue did not expand proportionally, as flat-rate subscribers did not pay more, Far EasTone president Chee Ching (井琪) told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference in Taipei.
“Normally, we do not run our business like this,” Ching said. “We should all rethink this and what is the right mix [of mobile and fixed broadband].”
In the US, people usually use Wi-Fi networks at home, she said.
In contrast, Taiwanese flat-rate subscribers use their 4G or 5G data at home, she said.
Ahead of the commercial launch of 5G in Taiwan, Far EasTone did not plan to offer flat rates, Ching said, adding that she hopes that the model would disappear before her retirement.
Far EasTone’s 5G users on average consume 63 gigabytes of mobile data, compared with 13.9 gigabytes consumed by North American 5G users on average, Ching said.
Far EasTone said it operates about 9,000 5G base stations in Taiwan, covering 90 percent of the nation’s populated areas.
However, it would next year scale back its capital spending on 5G base station deployment, it said.
“The capital spending on 5G infrastructure should peak this year,” Ching said.
Far EasTone budgeted NT$14.9 billion (US$537.71 million) on capital expenditures this year, the highest in six years, it said.
AI SPLURGE: The four major US tech companies have lost more than US$950 billion in value since releasing earnings and outlooks, while equipment makers were gaining Four of the biggest US technology companies together have forecast capital expenditures that would reach about US$650 billion this year — a flood of cash earmarked for new data centers and all the gear within them. The spending planned by Alphabet Inc, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Microsoft Corp, all in pursuit of dominance in the still-nascent market for artificial intelligence (AI) tools, is a boom without a parallel this century. Each of the companies’ estimates for this year is expected either near or surpass their budgets for the past three years combined. They would set a high-watermark for capital spending
China’s top chipmaker has warned that breakaway spending on artificial intelligence (AI) chips is bringing forward years of future demand, raising the risk that some data centers could sit idle. “Companies would love to build 10 years’ worth of data center capacity within one or two years,” Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯) cochief executive officer Zhao Haijun (趙海軍) said yesterday on a call with analysts. “As for what exactly these data centers will do, that hasn’t been fully thought through.” Moody’s Ratings projects that AI-related infrastructure investment would exceed US$3 trillion over the next five years, as developers pour eye-watering sums
Bank of America Corp nearly doubled its forecast for the nation’s economic growth this year, adding to a slew of upgrades even after a rip-roaring last year propelled by demand for artificial intelligence (AI). The firm lifted its projection to 8 percent from 4.5 percent on “relentless global demand” for the hardware that Taiwanese companies make, according to a note dated yesterday by analysts including Xiaoqing Pi (皮曉青). Taiwan’s GDP expanded 8.63 percent last year, the fastest pace since 2010. The increase “reflects our sustained optimism over Taiwan’s technology driven expansion and is reinforced by several recent developments,” including a more stable currency,
COLLABORATION: Taiwan and the US could jointly find solutions to weaknesses in supply chain resilience for critical materials, focusing on mining and initial refinement Taiwan is likely to purchase rare earths from the US in the future, and is also in talks with Australia and Canada to strengthen global rare earth supply chain security, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Taiwan and the US last month concluded the sixth Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue, during which both sides signed a joint statement endorsing the principles of the Pax Silica Declaration, pledging to deepen cooperation in areas including critical minerals. At the time, Kung said the two sides would establish working groups to advance cooperation in areas including artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, critical materials and
RSS