After Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC) and the Fair Trade Commission successively approved the merger of Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star, and also approved the merger of Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom, Taiwan's telecommunications market has become a five-player competition in the 4G era, returning to the early three-player competition. What changes will there be in the future with the continued improvement of 5G network technology and even the future 6G network competition?
Current Trend
遠傳電信與亞太電信合併後，標榜擁有達120MHz的業界5G網路最大頻寬，其中結合遠傳電信既有被稱為5G網路黃金魚肚頻段的3.5GHz所對應80MHz傳輸頻寬，以及亞太電信在室內穿透力更好的2600MHz TDD頻段所對應40MHz。
In addition, after the merger with Asia Pacific Telecom, Far EasTone Telecommunications has increased the bandwidth of the 4MHz frequency band of its existing 700G network by 66%, improving network transmission and coverage in urban indoor areas and rural areas, allowing existing 4G network users to have a more stable network transmission experience.
Even after the merger, only a single device will be needed to provide 700MHz continuous bandwidth connection services in the 25MHz band, allowing Far EasTone Telecommunications to streamline its power usage needs and reduce overall carbon emissions.
In the merger between Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star, the biggest advantage touted is the industry's largest 100G network transmission bandwidth of 5MHz. It can also provide more stable indoor transmission stability by simultaneously offering 700MHz and 900MHz frequency bands.
As for Chunghwa Telecom, its main low-frequency band focuses on the 900MHz band, while the bandwidth of the main 5GHz band of the 3.5G network reaches 90MHz, and the corresponding bandwidth of the 28GHz band reaches 600MHz. It can have a certain degree of stability in both existing 4G LTE services and 5G network services, and even has good results in millimeter wave connection applications.
However, in terms of total bandwidth held, the merged Far EasTone Telecommunications surpasses Chunghwa Telecom's 980MHz with 890MHz. Even in the future, as the market gradually transitions to a 5G network service-dominated market, Far EasTone Telecommunications' current spectrum distribution will become even more advantageous.
Merged differences
As previously mentioned, although the merger of Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star increased the total bandwidth in the 3.5GHz band to 100MHz (Taiwan Mobile's original 60MHz plus Taiwan Star's original 40MHz), due to the original bandwidth of each carrier being located in different parts of the 3.5GHz band, there will be a certain loss in transmission efficiency when using it through carrier aggregation (CA).
After the merger of Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom, as Asia Pacific Telecom did not hold 3.5GHz frequency band bandwidth, the merged Far EasTone Telecommunications maintained its original 80MHz bandwidth, but added an additional 2600Hz of bandwidth from Asia Pacific Telecom's 40MHz TDD band. This allows Far EasTone to reach 5MHz of bandwidth in the current main frequency band of the 120G network. Because 2600MHz TDD has better penetration and coverage than 3.5GHz, it can provide smoother network transmission.
Furthermore, after the merger, Taiwan Mobile will need to comply with the National Communications Commission's principle of fair competition and return 10MHz of low-frequency spectrum. Furthermore, few mobile phones currently on the market support the use of carrier aggregation in the 700MHz and 900MHz bands, so it may not be able to fully leverage its golden dual-low-frequency market advantage.
As for the millimeter wave connection band, which is critical for the future development of 5G networks, the merger of Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom will further increase the transmission bandwidth of 5G networks in the 28GHz band to 700MHz (Asia Pacific Telecom originally held 800MHz of bandwidth, of which 100MHz will be returned). This is not only significantly higher than Taiwan Mobile's 200MHz bandwidth, but also higher than Chunghwa Telecom's 600MHz.
因此即便在目前5G網路主流使用的6GHz以下頻段，遠傳電信在3.5GHz頻段僅對應80MHz傳輸頻寬，但加上2600MHz TDD頻段則讓總傳輸頻寬增加至120MHz，在既有主流5G網路使用頻段將更有利。
On the other hand, the millimeter wave frequency band has greater competitive advantages. For example, it is more conducive to enterprises to build 5G private networks with higher transmission bandwidth, thereby replacing the traditional wired intranet deployment model.
Following the mergers of Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star, and Far EasTone Telecommunications and Asia Pacific Telecom, the competitive landscape in Taiwan's telecom market has been reshuffled. Chunghwa Telecom, which originally held the most bandwidth resources and had a clear advantage in both 4G LTE network services and 3.5G networks, including the 28GHz and 5GHz frequency bands, has now only maintained a high level of competitiveness in its existing 4G LTE network services.
新遠傳電信則在總持有頻寬、3.5GHz頻段加上2600MHz TDD頻段的5G網路頻寬，以及室內環境的行動網路連接能力有更高優勢，至於新台灣大哥大則標榜持有3.5GHz頻段100MHz的5G網路頻寬，並且在700MHz與900MHz低頻取得優勢，但在未來成為5G網路技術發展主力的毫米波28GHz頻段卻顯得不足。
Will the "499" chaos no longer occur?
When Taiwan entered the 4G LTE network market, five telecom operators competed. Subsequently, in order to compete for users, they fell into the "499" chaos, making most users more accustomed to the low-cost all-you-can-eat model. Some telecom operators even launched lower-cost options such as NT$298 per month. As a result, telecom operators also faced cost issues caused by low-price competition. Finally, they had to use transmission bandwidth control and other methods to prevent users from abusing the all-you-can-eat plan, which would affect the Internet access rights of others.
After telecom operators began to compete in the 5G network market, they have tacitly canceled low-cost all-you-can-eat plans, allowing competition in Taiwan's telecommunications service market to return to normal. Users can choose a plan that suits them best based on their actual traffic needs. If they want to choose all-you-can-eat, they should choose a high-cost plan based on the principle of fairness.
Therefore, the current market has returned to a three-way competition, including Chunghwa Telecom, Far EasTone Telecommunications and Taiwan Mobile. They will maintain their existing 5G network billing model and focus on attracting existing 4G network service users to migrate to 5G network services. They will also gradually eliminate the 3G network charges that some people still use. It is expected that by 2024, they will attract existing 4G network users to migrate through low-cost 3G network plans.
預計從2024至2025年將更多重心放在5G網路應用成長，因此接下來將會逐漸進入以5G網路技術為重，並且開始著眼下一代6G網路應用發展階段，而此時的4G網路將會逐漸成為備援網路。
During this period, telecom operators will also replace their base stations, allowing 5G network services to gradually transition from the current non-independent network architecture that is still integrated with the existing 4G network to an independent network architecture formed by a full 5G network, thereby providing complete 5G network services.
summary
When the Taiwanese market transitioned from 3G networks to 4G networks, it was once caught in a low-price competition situation. However, after entering the 5G network development, it has clearly regained positive development opportunities. The return to a three-way competition in the telecommunications market has also allowed the mobile network usage model to return to a healthier competition based on volume-based pricing.
Consumers will also be able to calculate their actual monthly mobile network usage and consider which telecom operator's network and services are more suitable for them, rather than just choosing low-price all-you-can-eat plans as their only option. This will also allow the telecom market to return to a more sound competitive environment, preventing mobile network solutions from falling into low-price competition, which in turn affects the Internet access rights of more people.
