Taiwan’s FET expects 5G to reach 40% of its mobile base this year

FET had initially launched commercial 5G services in Taiwan in 2020

Taiwanese operator Far EasTone Telecommunications expects its 5G subscriber penetration rate to reach 40% by the end of this year from more than 30% last year, local newspaper Taipei Times reported.

The carrier’s president, Chee Ching, said that it would be reasonable to see an increase of 10 percentage points this year in the penetration rate of 5G subscribers.

Ching added that the growth in 5G subscriptions will represent one of the company’s key drivers of growth during 2023.

Far EasTone has posted a 20% increase in average revenue per user (ARPU) from 5G subscribers’ renewals in terms of monthly fees, the executive said.

Also, Far EasTone expects capex this year to be lower compared to 2022, as investment on 5G deployment has peaked, Ching said.

The executive also noted that the company also expects revenue from its “new economy” businesses, or non-traditional telecom services, including cloud-based services, 5G private networks and e-commerce services, to rise to 20% of total revenue this year, slightly up from 19% in the first three quarters of 2022.

Commenting about Far EasTone’s planned acquisition of rival operator Asia Pacific Telecom, Ching said she expected the merger to take effect in the third quarter of this year at the earliest.

Source: https://www.rcrwireless.com/20230118/5g/taiwan-fet-expects-5g-reach-40-mobile-base-this-year