Traditional mobile phone calls declined by 75 percent from 2014 to 2023, as calls via instant messaging services became more popular among Taiwanese, a National Communications Commission (NCC) report said.
The Communications Market Report published by the NCC said that the percentage of people who use instant messaging apps to make calls climbed to 96 percent last year from 88.2 percent in 2017.
Line has been the most used online call service in Taiwan, with more than 90 percent of telecom users using the app since 2017, it said.
Photo: Fang Wei-chieh, Taipei Times
The percentage of Line users continued to grow and reached 99.5 percent last year, followed by Facebook Messenger and FaceTime, the report said.
Making voice calls was the most popular online activity among phone users in Taiwan aged 16 or older, accounting for 89.7 percent last year, up from 75.2 percent in 2023, it said.
The next-most popular online activity was to “download photos, films, videos or music, or play or download games,” which made up 55.3 percent last year, up from 44.7 percent in 2023, the report said.
Last year, the average person spent 6.72 hours per week on online voice calls, much more than the 1.48 hours per week spent on traditional mobile phone calls, it said.
Time spent on traditional mobile phone calls decreased to 7.7 billion minutes in 2023, down by 75 percent from 31.7 billion minutes in 2014, it said.
Online calls have largely replaced traditional mobile phone calls, it said.
An office worker surnamed Chou (周) said that voice calls are more useful than text messages.
She prefers to contact loved ones via online voice call services and would call via mobile phone only when someone is an acquaintance or a stranger, or not reachable via Internet, she said.
Another person, surnamed Liao (廖), said she prefers not to make voice calls and uses instant messaging apps almost as frequently as traditional mobile phone calls to make voice calls.
NCC Secretary-General Huang Wen-che (黃文哲) on Sunday said that online call services have many advantages, including being free of charge, providing unrestricted talk time regardless of where someone is and a call quality almost equivalent to traditional mobile phone calls.
Most communications software also provides instant messaging or data transmission services, he said, adding that Taiwanese have become accustomed to such communications services, which is also a global trend.
However, online service users must be aware of risks of personal data breaches and scams, he said.
The NCC would continue to observe telecoms’ market share and calling rates, and impose regulation when needed to ensure high-quality, safe and reliable services, he said.
Meanwhile, a telecom official on condition of anonymity said that its revenue was not affected by the shift to online calls, as it has been monitoring clients’ data usage and continued to provide products in line with clients’ needs.
It also provides innovative services, such as using artificial intelligence to handle reservation calls and forwarding landline calls to mobile phones, they said.
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