The Taiwanese telco targets 6.4 million ‘4G’ users by the end of 2016
Taiwanese mobile operator Chunghwa Telecom said it will end 2015 with 4.4 million LTE subscribers, local press reported. The telco launched commercial LTE services in May 2014.
Chunghwa Telecom’s LTE customer base currently accounts for 40.7% of total LTE subscribers in Taiwan. The operator also said it expects to reach 6.4 million LTE subscribers by the end of 2016.
Rival operator Far EasTone Telecommunications expects to reach 3 million LTE customers by the end of 2015 and targets 4.5 million by the end of 2016. Meanwhile, Taiwan Mobile also expects to reach nearly 3 million LTE customers by the end of 2015. Asia Pacific Telecom currently counts 700,000 LTE subscribers and expects to reach 1.4 million customers by the end of 2016.
Chunghwa Telecom’s President Shih Mu-piao recently said the country is expected to end 2016 with 17 million to 18 million 4G users. In the second quarter of 2016, CHT expects to expand its LTE network infrastructure through the deployment of 1,000 base stations in densely populated areas across Taiwan.
CHT currently provides LTE services through spectrum in the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz bands.
ZTE invests $616 million in a new unit in Changsha
In other APAC news, Chinese telecoms equipment manufacturer ZTE announced plans to invest 4.4 billion yuan ($616.6 million) in a production and manufacturing unit in the city of Changsha in Hunan province.
The new facility is set to develop and produce smart mobile devices, storage products and cloud computing applications.
ZTE expects to rollout “5G” networks in mainland China, Japan and South Korea in 2020. The Chinese company has already signed collaboration agreements with Chinese mobile operator China Mobile, Japanese telco SoftBank and South Korean operator KT to implement pre-5G networks.
ZTE previously said it expects to invest $220 million through 2018 to develop 5G and other advanced technologies.
