Far EasTone hails early ARPU gains from 5G

Far EasTone hails early ARPU gains from 5G

Taiwan operator Far EasTone recorded a bump in ARPU less than a month after introducing 5G service and targeted converting 20 per cent of its 4G subscribers to its next-generation network within a year.

On a Q2 earnings call, president Chee Ching said users upgrading to 5G delivered a 12 per cent increase in ARPU since launch in early July. Almost all (99 per cent) chose plans priced at TWD999 ($33.99) and higher.

He noted it didn’t introduce unlimited data for 5G: its TWD999 and TWD1,199 plans offer 60GB and 100GB per month respectively, with users falling back to 4G when the allocation is used up.

“We are encouraged by what we see. As we are getting more devices in August, this should improve.”

He said it signed up “a few tens of thousands of subscribers”, without disclosing specifics.

Q2 results
Net profit for the second quarter increased 3 per cent year-on-year to TWD2.24 billion, mainly driven by cost-cutting efforts. Total revenue fell 8.6 per cent to TWD18.68 billion.

Chee said: “We are pleased with the results given the pandemic impact.”

Post-paid subscribers were flat at 5.36 million, but its overall base dipped slightly to 29.1 million.

The operator plans to install 4,000 5G base stations by the year-end, for an average of 55 per cent population coverage in all regions.

It is using dynamic spectrum sharing technology to optimise the performance of its 4G and 5G airwaves, Chee said.

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