Earlier this year, the Taiwan National Communications Commission (NCC) ruled thatConditional consentTaiwan Mobile merged with Taiwan Star, and Far EasTone Telecommunications merged with Asia Pacific Telecom. The Fair Trade Commission also conditionally approved the merger application of Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom in July this year. Far EasTone Telecommunications announced today (7/8) that it has "engaged" to explain its merger plan with Asia Pacific Telecom. It also stated that after the merger, the two companies will become Taiwan's "spectrum triple crown", with a significant increase in network speed and coverage, and the average user bandwidth will rank first among Taiwan's telecom operators.
Far EasTone Telecommunications stated that after becoming Taiwan's "Spectrum Triple Crown", it will provide services with the maximum total bandwidth, maximum low-frequency continuous bandwidth and maximum 5G network bandwidth, and allow users to obtain the maximum average bandwidth.
Far EasTone Telecommunications Chairman Xu Xudong stated that the official merger with Asia Pacific Telecom will elevate Far EasTone's already strong network services to a higher level. Furthermore, the merger will allow the company to leverage the hardware resources of Foxconn, the company's backer, and leverage Far EasTone Telecommunications' software resources to achieve the benefits of hardware and software integration. This will further advance Far EasTone Telecommunications' previously proposed "Big Shot" initiative, which will expand the development of artificial intelligence, AI, and IoT applications.
Far EasTone Telecommunications General Manager Jing Qi stated that after the merger of Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom, the number of users will exceed 920 million. Among them, users who originally used Asia Pacific Telecom's services can now directly use Far EasTone Telecommunications' base station connection resources in the first phase. Far EasTone Telecommunications can also obtain an upgraded experience without increasing the price by leveraging the spectrum and bandwidth of the merger.
As for Asia Pacific Telecom Chairman Chen Peng, he emphasized that Asia Pacific Telecom has always had good cooperation and interaction with Far EasTone Telecommunications, and he looks forward to promoting healthy competition in the industry with a value orientation after the formal merger in the future.
Following its merger with Asia Pacific Telecom, Far EasTone Telecommunications announced a 1% increase in bandwidth in the critical sub-66GHz band and a 700MHz increase in contiguous bandwidth in the 50MHz band. This will enhance network signal penetration and coverage, improving network transmission capabilities deep indoors, on public transportation, and in remote areas. Furthermore, 5G frequency bands will be increased by 50%, bringing the total bandwidth to 120MHz, thereby boosting the development of 5G network services.
In a subsequent interview, Jing Qi explained that the number of users after the merger of Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom has not yet surpassed Chunghwa Telecom, and has not even exceeded Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star, which are also expected to complete the merger. However, it is expected that the Taiwanese telecommunications market will return to a three-way competition in the future, and the company itself plans to increase the number of users from 920 million after the merger to 1000 million.
In addition, Far EasTone Telecommunications emphasized that after the merger with Asia Pacific Telecom, it will be able to significantly increase millimeter wave bandwidth resources, which can be used for 5G network services with higher bandwidth transmission services operating on millimeter waves. It can even connect with the development of satellite networking applications that will become mainstream in the future, and serve as the foundation for the future layout of 6G network technology development.
In conjunction with the merger, Far EasTone Telecommunications plans to replace 5000 of its base stations and implement artificial intelligence technology to achieve power savings. Through energy management, this will reduce base station power consumption by 8600 million kWh annually and reduce carbon emissions by 4.3 tons, equivalent to the carbon absorption of 110 Daan Forest Parks. The combined base station network will reach 12500 sites. The original roaming service offered in the first phase will be phased out, with all services transitioning to the combined base station network system.
In anticipation of its upcoming merger with Asia Pacific Telecom, Far EasTone Telecommunications has also announced the launch of a new tariff plan, including a "mobile phone + 3C home appliances" plan. A 599G tariff plan can be applied for with a minimum monthly payment of NT$5. For an additional NT$1, users can take away mobile phones from brands such as Samsung and Redmi, as well as home appliance brands including Philips, Braun, and Tokuyo.
Furthermore, from now until the end of September, whether you're applying for a new Far EasTone Telecommunications plan, porting your number, or renewing your Far EasTone Telecommunications monthly plan, you can recommend a family member to port their number or apply for a new number. This will give you a NT$9 discount per month for 599 consecutive months on plans with a monthly payment of NT$12 or more. The referrer will also receive a NT$100 gift card for the entire family. Far EasTone Telecommunications has also announced the addition of new low-cost single-number plans, offering 500G data plans starting at NT$149 and up to NT$399 per month. These plans, when combined with existing 4G data plans, will meet a wider range of connectivity needs.
