Major operators in Taiwan/China to shut down 3G services on December 31

Monday, 17 December 2018 at 04:12

The communication industry is advancing and many manufacturers are now moving to the next level. Current reports have reiterated that the Taiwan region will close its 3G network on December 31 this year. Since the beginning of the year, it was known that the major carriers in the region had 3Glicensess till December 31st but it was not clear whether they will renew the license or not. Currently, there are two weeks from the end of the year, and about 200,000 users still use 3G networks in the region. Operators such as Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Big Brother, and FarEasTone Telecom saw the last wave of 3G upgrades and actively launched various activities to attract users to upgrade to 4G networks. The likes of Asia Pacific Telecom switched off its 3G service in 2017.

On July 1st, 2017, the 2G network was closed in Taiwan. By December 31 this year, the 3G licenses of operators such as Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Big Brother, Far EasTone, and Taiwan Star will also expire. Since last year, Taiwan's telecommunications business regulators and telecom operators have actively called for users to upgrade from 3G to 4G. In March this year, the number of 4G users in Taiwan has exceeded the total population. The number of 3G users in Taiwan has dropped from 5.517 million last year to 228,000 in mid-November this year.

Taiwan's telecommunications business regulators estimate that before the 3G network shut down, about 100,000 users will upgrade to 4G, leaving less than 100,000 users without upgrading to 4G.