Chunghwa Telecom and Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) last year dominated the nation’s high-speed mobile communications service market, garnering either first or second place in annual nationwide transmission speed tests at fixed locations administered by the Telecom Technology Center.
There were about 29.52 million 4G service subscribers as of Feb. 28, National Communications Commission data showed.
The research center, which operates under the commission, conducted the annual transmission speed tests between June and October last year. The results serve as an important reference for 4G subscribers when they choose service plans.
The center’s engineers conducted three tests, the first of which measured data download and upload speeds at 7,861 fixed locations, the commission said.
The second test measured download speeds on transportation systems: on Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA), high-speed rail and MRT metropolitan rail line trains; as well as in vehicles on highways, expressways and freeways, it said.
The third test measured the time needed to download files from Google Cloud, it added.
The results, which were announced by the commission on Wednesday, showed that Chunghwa topped other carriers in terms of the download speed measured at fixed locations in the nation’s 22 counties and cities.
FET ranked second in 20 counties and cities in download speed.
However, FET was ranked first in nine cities and counties in data upload speeds measured at fixed locations, including Taipei, Taoyuan, Taichung and Kaohsiung, while Chunghwa was first in 13 cities and counties.
In Google Cloud downloads, Chunghwa and FET were ranked either first or second.
The results also showed that the two telecoms were the only carriers in the nation offering mobile Internet service with an average transmission speed in excess of 100 megabits per second (Mbps).
Chunghwa fared better than its rivals in download speed measured on all freeways, with FET and Taiwan Mobile alternating for second place.
On the high-speed railway network, Chunghwa had a download speed of 54.69Mbps, while Taiwan Mobile and FET had speeds of 32.27Mbps and 28.8Mbps respectively.
On the main TRA line, Taiwan Mobile clocked in at 52.45Mbps, slightly faster than Chunghwa’s 51.94Mbps. FET was third with a transmission speed of 43.2Mbps.
With the exception of the Red Line, on which Chunghwa and Taiwan Mobile were ranked first and second respectively, Chunghwa and FET were ranked first and second respectively in Taipei’s MRT system.
The results showed that the nation’s average download speed from fixed locations rose 13.53 percent to 108.33Mbps, while the average on transportation systems was between 38.71Mbps and 69.03Mbps.
The nation’s fastest download speed was measured in Miaoli County, which had an average of 133.8Mbps.
The six special municipalities — Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung — had average speeds in megabits per second of 109.48, 106.75, 103.88, 116.6, 101.25 and 103.33 respectively.
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