Taiwan Star Telecom expects to reach 550,000 subscribers in the 5G segment at the end of the year, local new site Digitimes reported.
This figure will represent nearly 20% of the carrier’s overall mobile base, according to the report.
The telco, which had launched commercial 5G services in August 2020, currently has 120,000 5G customers.
Taiwan Star had attracted 230,000 new mobile customers in 2020, with its overall subscriber base already surpassing 2.55 million in the year and accounting for almost 9% of Taiwan’s 29.3 million mobile service users.
Planning to boost 5G coverage this year, the operator said it aims to deploy 6,000 5G base stations across Taiwan before the end of 2020, expecting to provide 5G coverage of 90% of urban areas.
Taiwan Star also said it expects to expand its user base to four million within five years.
Taiwan Star secured 40 megahertz of spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band in a previous spectrum auction. The operator had previously selected Nokia for its NSA 5G network deployment.
In June, the government of Taiwan issued the first 5G license to Chunghwa Telecom, which paved the way for that company to launch commercial 5G offerings in July.
Rival operators Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET), Taiwan Mobile, Taiwan Star Telecom and Asia Pacific Telecom also launched 5G services after they had secured 5G licenses.
Last week, Taiwan’s National Communications Commission (NCC) gave conditional approval for Asia Pacific Telecom Co (APT) to share Far EasTone Telecommunications Co’s (FET) 5G frequencies using its own 5G network. In September 2020, FET and APT had announced a partnership to provide 5G services on Taiwan’s 3.5 GHz frequency band.
The two operators have committed to deploy 2,000 additional base stations to expand their 5G coverage. Under this plan, FET aims to install 500 5G base stations and 1,000 4G sites within one to two years, while APT is expected build 500 4G base stations.
FET spent NT$40.6 billion to secure 80 megahertz in the 3.5 GHz band and NT$412 million for 400 megahertz in the 28 GHz band in the country’s latest 5G auction.
Meanwhile, APT obtained 400 megahertz in the 28 GHz band.
FET has already reached over 300,000 5G subscribers, according to previous reports. The carrier also said that it aims to reach 1 million customers in the 5G segment by the end of next year.
FET said the aim for next year is to reach a 5G coverage of 90% of the nation.
