Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) yesterday said it expects its 5G network to cover 90 percent of the nation’s population by the end of this year, as its 5G base station number reaches 9,500 units by sharing infrastructure with Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信).
Through a cobuild and coshare infrastructure model, Asia Pacific currently provides 5G services through 7,500 base stations utilizing the 3.5-gigahertz spectrum owned by Far EasTone, the company said.
“Asia Pacific has obtained a new opportunity to thrive, thanks to the new telecommunications regulation that allows telecoms to coshare and cobuild 5G networks,” company chairman Lu Fang-ming (呂芳銘) told a media briefing following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
A subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), Asia Pacific Telecom said it has seen a rebound in subscriber numbers after rolling out its 5G services in October last year, shaking off the adverse impact from a major price war in 2019.
The company saw a 172 percent jump in average revenue per user from 5G subscribers compared with its 4G users.
The company aims to upgrade 20 percent of its mobile subscribers — or about 400,000 users — to its new 5G services by the end of this year, despite a delayed regulatory approval, company president Huang Nan-ren (黃南仁) told reporters.
The Fair Trade Commission approved the 5G infrastructure co-sharing proposal early this month.
The National Communications Commission yesterday gave the green light for Far EasTone to invest NT$5 billion (US$179 million) for an 11.58 percent stake in Asia Pacific, which would it give one seat on the latter’s board.
Asia Pacific said it expects its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization to further improve, extending a positive trend over the past two years.
It aims to start making a profit in three to five years.
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