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Far EasTone Telecommunications Co announced its plans to expand its number of mobile subscribers to approximately 10 million, accounting for around one-third of the market. This is part of the company’s strategy in the new competitive landscape following market consolidation. The company recently received conditional approval from the Fair Trade Commission to acquire Asia Pacific Telecom Co, and the transaction is expected to be completed next quarter.

The merger of Far EasTone and Asia Pacific will reduce the number of telecoms in the market, but it will also intensify competition. Far EasTone’s chairman, Douglas Hsu, stated that although the company will be competing head-to-head with rivals who have almost identical subscriber bases, the market competition will become more intense. Company president Chee Ching added that the combined entity will have around 9.2 million mobile subscribers, slightly behind Chunghwa Telecom Co but ahead of Taiwan Mobile Co.

It is anticipated that Taiwan Mobile’s bid to absorb Taiwan Star Telecom Corp will also receive approval from the competition watchdog later this month, further reducing the number of telecoms in Taiwan to three from five. To attract more mobile subscribers, especially from rivals, Far EasTone has introduced new service plans with affordable monthly rates and subsidies for smartphones and home appliances. These service plans target 4G users and aim to encourage them to upgrade to 5G service.

Far EasTone has estimated that approximately 2 million of its post-paid subscribers, excluding Asia Pacific’s, are already 5G users. The company expects to complete the network integration with Asia Pacific within one month of the transaction’s completion, optimizing its infrastructure and operating a total of 12,500 base stations nationwide.

Additionally, the merger is expected to increase Far EasTone’s spectrum resource, particularly in the low-band bandwidth. The company will operate 50 megahertz of bandwidth, a 66 percent increase, and its 5G bandwidth will also rise by 50 percent to 120 megahertz. Despite the merger, Far EasTone does not anticipate significant increases in capital spending.

Overall, Far EasTone’s acquisitions and expansion plans will reshape the telecom market in Taiwan, reducing the number of players but intensifying competition among the remaining companies.

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