Taiwan’s telecom development ahead of US: Far EasTone president

遠傳電信總裁：台灣電信發展遙遙領先美國

Taiwanese smartphone users watch too many soap operas, play too many games: Ching


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan's smartphone telecom development and environment both rank far ahead of the United States, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. (遠傳電信股份有限公司) President Chee Ching (井琪) said Thursday (July 17).

Ching joined the Taiwanese telecom operator as president in 2018, after working 23 years at U.S. telecom behemoth AT&T Inc. Far EasTone was the second operator to receive a 5G license in Taiwan, allowing it to start services this month.

She emphasized the importance of the pricing structure for telecom services, CNA reported. As an example, she told the news agency how young people in Taiwan spend lots of time using their smartphones to go online, watching soap operas and playing games instead of expressing their creativity.

While in Taiwan, everyone has already moved to 4G and coverage extends to practically everywhere, in the U.S. many people still use 3G, while different operators cover different parts of the vast country, Ching said.

She compared Taiwan to South Korea, as both are relatively small countries with dense populations, which makes it easy for telecoms to cover them in their entirety. Despite the limited size of the market, Taiwanese manufacturers hold the advantage of being able to work in different domains, from the Internet of Things to AI and Big Data, according to Ching.