Number of 5G accounts in Taiwan surpasses 10 million: NCC

Taipei, Jan. 4 (CNA) The number of telecom accounts in Taiwan that have switched to adopt 5G as their service has surpassed 10 million, according to the latest National Communications Commission (NCC) statistics.

The most recent update on 5G usage was from the end of November 2024, by which time 33.7 percent of telecommunications accounts had started using 5G data, accounting for more than 10 million registered numbers, NCC data showed.

In terms of market share of the major telecom players, Chunghwa Telecom had 3.88 million 5G accounts, or 38.8 percent of the total, while Taiwan Mobile had 3.13 million 5G accounts, for a 31.3 percent share, and Far EasTone had 2.99 million 5G accounts, or a 29.9 percent share, the NCC said.

Commission data showed that the biggest spike in new 5G accounts between January and November 2024 came in May, when 182,000 new numbers were subscribed to the service.

According to the NCC, the spike could have been a result of Taiwan terminating 3G services at the end of June, as well as the exiting of Singapore's telecom service, Circles.Life, from Taiwan's market in July.

Additionally, the launch of various Apple iPhone 16 smartphone models in September also lilkely contributed to boosting 5G adoption between September and November, when an average of 160,000 new subscribers signed up each month.

With the increase of 5G users contributing positively to the average revenue per user (ARPU) for Taiwan's telecom companies, the ARPU in the third quarter of 2024 was NT$478.7 (US$14.52), a NT$1.5 increase from the previous quarter, commission data showed.

Meanwhile, the number of accounts still using the slower 4G in Taiwan continued to decline.

The NCC said the number of 4G accounts in Taiwan fell to under 20 million for the first time in October 2024.

The commission said while the population of 4G numbers fell to around 19.69 million in its latest calculation, it was still nearly double the total of 5G users.

In terms of revenue, the NCC said Taiwan's telecommunications services generated NT$42.72 billion, in the third quarter of 2024, or NT$210 million more than in the second quarter.

Of that, NT$36.51 billion came from telecommunications accounts under monthly plans, the NCC said.