Taiwan Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: April 2024

Report Pages: 154

Analyst: Stephen Marshall

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Taiwan’s mobile sector consolidates down to three major operators

Taiwan has a highly developed telecoms sector in both the fixed-line and mobile segments. In part this is due to the country’s early moves to liberalise the market, allowing vigorous competition to flourish. The government has also made concerted efforts to take advantage of Taiwan’s strengths in the development of high-tech, export-oriented industries to encourage and enable the rapid adoption of advanced telecom platforms, while simultaneously leveraging the same telecoms infrastructure to push even further ahead with the country's industrial development plans.

Taiwan has one of the highest teledensities in the region. While fixed-line subscriber numbers are trending downwards, the rate of decline has been slowed by the major fixed-line provider (Chunghwa Telecom) investing strongly in building out a widespread fibre network to allow customers to maintain a terrestrial voice connection as part of a fixed broadband package.

Fibre is the dominant platform in Taiwan’s fixed broadband market. And yet, cable services have retained an unusually strong following thanks to the success of cable providers in delivering competitive cable TV and telephony services as a way to get around Chunghwa Telecom’s control of the last mile for its copper and fibre networks.

Taiwan also has high penetration rates in its mobile and mobile broadband segments, however growth in both markets is almost at a standstill because the country reached 100% penetration very early on – way back when GSM was first introduced, in mobile’s case. The MNOs moved quickly to roll out 4G and 5G networks and services in rapid succession, but subscriber numbers (and market share) has barely changed. Rather, the hope is that the improved quality and performance available with the new platforms will drive increased usage and ARPU.

Fierce competition following the launch of 4G saw the opposite happen, however, with price wars causing telco revenues to fall instead. It is possible that the same problem can be avoided with 5G, since the three smaller operators have recently been absorbed into the major providers Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, and Far EasTone. Wiser heads may prevail this time around, allowing Taiwan to reach the target of 50% of subscribers on 5G by mid-2023 without succumbing to self-defeating price cuts in order to lure them over.

This report includes operator data to March 2022, regulator’s market data for December 2021, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, and other recent market developments.

Key developments:

Taiwan MNOs expect to reach 50% of subscribers on 5G by mid-2023.
Taiwan Mobile acquires Taiwan Star.
Far EasTone merges with Asia Pacific Telecom, leaving Taiwan with just three mobile operators.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone, Taiwan Mobile, Asia Pacific Telecom, VIBO Telecom, Taiwan Star, Ambit, GigaMedia.

Key statistics
Regional Asia market comparison

Market characteristics
Market Leaders
Market Challengers
Market Emergents
TMI vs GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed versus mobile broadband penetration

Country overview
Telecommunications market

Market revenue

Regulatory environment

Regulatory authorities
Fixed-line developments

Liberalisation
1996 Telecom ACT
Foreign investment

Mobile network developments

4G / LTE spectrum auctions
5G spectrum auction
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)

Mobile market

Mobile infrastructure

5G
LTE
3G
GSM
Mobile broadband

Major mobile operators

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT)
Taiwan Mobile
Far EasTone Telecommunications
Asia Pacific Telecom (APT)
VIBO Telecom
Taiwan Star
Ambit
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Fixed-line broadband market

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT)
Taiwan Mobile

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks

GigaMedia

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Other fixed broadband services

Wi-Fi
WiMAX

Digital economy

e-Government
e-Payments / m-Payments
Online Shopping

Fixed network market

Major network operators

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT)

Telecommunications infrastructure

Forward-Looking Infrastructure Construction Project
Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks
Smart infrastructure

Internet of Things (IoT)
Smart grids

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – Taiwan - 2022 (e)
Table 2 – Taiwan - Distribution of telecom revenue by services – 2016 – 2020
Table 3 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 4 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers by technology (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 5 – Development of 2G/3G/4G mobile services ARPU (NT$ / subscriber / month) – 2012 – 2020
Table 6 – Change in the share of mobile subscriber base by prepaid/contract – 2012 – 2020
Table 7 – Change in voice traffic volume by type (billion minutes) – 2012 – 2021
Table 8 – Change in SMS traffic and revenue – 2012 – 2021
Table 9 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 10 – Growth in mobile data traffic – 2012 – 2020
Table 11 – Mobile operator subscribers and market share – 2012 – 2021
Table 12 – Change in Chunghwa Telecom’s blended mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2022
Table 13 – Growth in Taiwan Mobile’s revenue and net profit (NT$ million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 14 – Development of Taiwan Mobile’s revenue by type (NT$ million) – 2016 – 2021
Table 15 – Taiwan Mobile’s annualised ARPU (NT$ per month) – 2012 – 2022
Table 16 – Change in the number of Taiwan Mobile’s subscribers by type (million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 17 – Change in the number of Far EasTone’s mobile subscribers (million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 18 – Development of Far EasTone’s ARPU (NT$ / month) – 2012 – 2022
Table 19 – Development of Far EasTone’s financial data (NT$ million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 20 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 21 – Change in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers by technology (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 22 – Change in the number of Chunghwa Telecom’s fibre broadband subscribers (million) – 2012 – 2022
Table 23 – Growth in the number of Taiwan Mobile’s fixed broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Table 24 – Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Table 25 – Development of Chunghwa Telecom’s financial data (NT$ billion) – 2012 – 2022
Table 26 – Change in the proportion of Chunghwa Telecom’s revenue by service – 2012 – 2021
Table 27 – Growth in international internet bandwidth – 2012 – 2020
Table 28 – Historic - Data communication revenue and mobile data service revenue ratios – 2001 – 2011
Table 29 – Historic - International internet bandwidth – 2000 – 2011
Table 31 – Historic - Fixed-line subscribers and penetration – 1996 – 2011
Table 32 – Historic - Taiwan - Call volumes for outgoing mobile and fixed network traffic (billion minutes) – 1999 – 2011
Table 33 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom revenue, capex, net profit (NT$ billion) – 2000 – 2011
Table 34 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom’s fixed line subscribers, residential and business (million) – 2000 – 2011
Table 35 – Historic - Internet users and penetration – 1998 – 2016
Table 36 – Historic - Fixed-line broadband subscribers, penetration – 2000 – 2011
Table 37 – Historic - Fixed-line and wireless broadband subscribers by technology (thousand) – 2000 – 2011
Table 38 – Historic - Cable broadband subscribers – 2000 – 2011
Table 39 – Historic - DSL subscribers – 2000 – 2011
Table 40 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom HiNet subscribers by type (thousand) – 2003 – 2011
Table 41 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom broadband ARPU (NT$/month) – 2001 – 2011
Table 42 – Historic - Chunghwa DSL and fibre ARPU (NT$/month) – 2008 – 2011
Table 43 – Historic - Mobile subscribers by technology (PHS, 2G, 3G, LTE) (million) – 2003 – 2011
Table 44 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration – 1996 – 2011
Table 45 – Historic - 2G/3G/4G mobile services ARPU (NT$/month) – 2005 – 2011
Table 46 – Historic - SMS traffic and revenue – 2001 – 2011
Table 47 – Historic - Prepaid share of total mobile subscriber base – 2001 – 2011
Table 48 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom mobile subscribers by type (million) – 1998 – 2011
Table 49 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom’s blended mobile ARPU – 2001 – 2011
Table 50 – Historic - Taiwan Mobile revenue and net profit (NT$ million) – 2003 – 2011
Table 51 – Historic - Taiwan Mobile subscribers by platform (million) – 1998 – 2011
Table 52 – Historic - Far EasTone mobile subscribers – 1998 – 2011
Table 53 – Historic - Far EasTone revenue, EBITDA, capex, net profit (NT$ million) – 2003 – 2011
Table 54 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile subscribers – 2003 – 2011
Table 55 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom’s mobile market share of subscribers – 2000 – 2011
Table 56 – Historic - APT’s mobile subscribers – 2005 – 2013
Table 57 – Historic - VIBO Telecom mobile subscribers – 2005 – 2013
Table 58 – Historic - Change in Chunghwa Telecom’s financial data (NT$ million) – 2005 – 2009
Table 59 – Historic - Chunghwa Telecom’s subscribers as proportion of total – 2006 – 2011
Table 60 – Historic - Change in the number of mobile number portings – 2005 – 2011
Table 61 – Historic - Change in the number of 3G/LTE mobile broadband subscribers (million) – 2008 – 2011
Table 62 – Historic - Development of Far EasTone’s ARPU – 2007 – 2011
Table 63 – Historic - Growth in the number of Taiwan Mobile’s cable broadband Subscribers – 2008 – 2011
Table 64 – Historic - Growth in the number of fibre broadband subscribers – 2007 – 2011

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Asia Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Leaders
Chart 2 – Asia Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Challengers
Chart 3 – Asia Telecoms Maturity Index – Market Emergents
Chart 4 – Asia – Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per capita
Chart 5 – Asia – Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 – Northern Asia – Mobile subscriber penetration vs mobile broadband penetration
Chart 7 – Northern Asia – Fixed and mobile broadband penetration
Chart 8 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 9 – Change in the number of mobile subscribers by technology – 2012 – 2021
Chart 10 – Development of 2G/3G/4G mobile services ARPU – 2012 – 2020
Chart 11 – Change in the share of mobile subscriber base by prepaid/contract – 2012 – 2020
Chart 12 – Change in voice traffic volume by type – 2012 – 2021
Chart 13 – Change in SMS traffic and revenue – 2012 – 2021
Chart 14 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 15 – Growth in mobile data traffic – 2012 – 2020
Chart 16 – Mobile operator subscribers and market share – 2012 – 2021
Chart 17 – Change in Chunghwa Telecom’s blended mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2022
Chart 18 – Growth in Taiwan Mobile’s revenue and net profit – 2012 – 2022
Chart 19 – Development of Taiwan Mobile’s revenue by type – 2016 – 2021
Chart 20 – Taiwan Mobile’s annualised ARPU – 2012 – 2022
Chart 21 – Change in the number of Taiwan Mobile’s subscribers by type – 2012 – 2022
Chart 22 – Change in the number of Far EasTone’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Chart 23 – Development of Far EasTone’s ARPU – 2012 – 2022
Chart 24 – Development of Far EasTone’s financial data – 2012 – 2022
Chart 25 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2027
Chart 26 – Change in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers by technology – 2012 – 2021
Chart 27 – Change in the number of Chunghwa Telecom’s fibre broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Chart 28 – Growth in the number of Taiwan Mobile’s fixed broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2022
Chart 29 – Decline in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Chart 30 – Development of Chunghwa Telecom’s financial data – 2012 – 2022
Chart 31 – Change in proportion of Chunghwa Telecom’s revenue by service – 2012 – 2021
Chart 32 – Growth in international internet bandwidth – 2012 – 2020

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Map of Telecom Maturity Index global ranking among countries in Asia
Exhibit 2 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 3 – Asia – Market Leaders and market developments
Exhibit 4 – Asia – Market Challengers and market developments
Exhibit 5 – Asia – Market Emergents and market developments
Exhibit 6 – Map of Taiwan
Exhibit 7 – 5G spectrum award results – January 2020
Exhibit 8 – Major global/regional submarine cables with landing point in Taiwan

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Taiwan Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Taiwan’s mobile sector consolidates down to three major operators

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Asia market comparison

Country overview

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Digital economy

Fixed network market

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views