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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The first bluefin tuna of the season, brought to shore in Pingtung County and weighing 190kg, was yesterday auctioned for NT$10,600 (US$333.5) per kilogram, setting a record high for the local market. The auction was held at the fish market in Donggang Fishing Harbor, where the Siaoliouciou Island-registered fishing vessel Fu Yu Ching No. 2 delivered the “Pingtung First Tuna” it had caught for bidding. Bidding was intense, and the tuna was ultimately jointly purchased by a local restaurant and a local company for NT$10,600 per kilogram — NT$300 ,more than last year — for a total of NT$2.014 million. The 67-year-old skipper
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
RSS