Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday said it aims to expand its number of mobile subscribers to about 10 million, or about one-third of the market, as part of its strategy in a new competitive landscape following market consolidation.
Far EasTone made the remarks after last month receiving conditional approval from the Fair Trade Commission to acquire Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信), clearing the final hurdle to proceed with the deal. The transaction is to take effect next quarter.
“The number of telecoms will shrink following the merger of Far EasTone and Asia Pacific, but the market competition will intensify,” Far EasTone chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) told reporters.
Photo: CNA
Far EasTone would be competing head-to-head with its rivals, which have almost identical subscriber bases, following the acquisition of Asia Pacific, company president Chee Ching (井琪) said.
The new entity would have a combined 9.2 million mobile subscribers, lagging behind Chunghwa Telecom Co’s (中華電信) 11.15 million, but ahead of an estimated 9.8 million for Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) after it acquires Taiwan Star Telecom Corp (台灣之星).
The nation’s competition watchdog is widely expected to give the go-ahead later this month at the earliest to Taiwan Mobile’s bid to absorb Taiwan Star after wrapping up a 30-day review.
As a result, the number of telecoms in Taiwan would shrink to three from five.
Far EasTone said that more than 36 percent, or about 2 million, of its post-paid subscribers, not including Asia Pacific’s, are 5G users.
To woo more mobile subscribers from rivals, Far EasTone yesterday rolled out new service plans with affordable monthly rates from NT$149 to NT$399 (US$4.66 to US$12.48) and heavy subsidies for smartphones and home appliances.
The new service plans target 4G users and their potential to upgrade to 5G service.
One of its promotions for new 5G service subscribers is a free Samsung smartphone and a rice cooker for a minimum 12-month subscription plan at NT$599 per month plus a NT$1 fee.
Far EasTone expects to complete the network integration with Asia Pacific within one month after it takes effect.
The company would operate 12,500 base stations nationwide as a result of infrastructure optimization, it estimated.
The telecom said it does not expect the merger to incur significant increases in capital spending due to base station additions.
It has budgeted NT$9 billion for this year’s capital expenditure, down from an outlay of NT$9.9 billion last year.
Far EasTone expects the merger to significantly increase its spectrum resource, especially in the low-band bandwidth, or lower-than 1-gigahertz band, which is considered the most efficient band.
Far EasTone would operate 50 megahertz of bandwidth, up 66 percent.
The company’s 5G bandwidth would also rise 50 percent to 120 megahertz.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
STILL LOADED: Last year’s richest person, Quanta Computer Inc chairman Barry Lam, dropped to second place despite an 8 percent increase in his wealth to US$12.6 billion Staff writer, with CNA Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興), the brothers who run Fubon Group (富邦集團), topped the Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people this year, released on Wednesday in New York. The magazine said that a stronger New Taiwan dollar pushed the combined wealth of Taiwan’s 50 richest people up 13 percent, from US$174 billion to US$197 billion, with 36 of the people on the list seeing their wealth increase. That came as Taiwan’s economy grew 4.6 percent last year, its fastest pace in three years, driven by the strong performance of the semiconductor industry, the magazine said. The Tsai
RSS