Taiwanese operators reportedly racked up more than 1 million 5G subscribers since introducing the next-generation service in early July, accounting for just more than 3 per cent of total mobile subscribers.

Chunghwa Telecom surpassed the 300,000 mark and aims for 500,000 by end-December, Taipei Times reported. Far EasTone and Taiwan Mobile each also signed 300,000 5G users, while Taiwan Star Telecom and Asia Pacific Telecom claimed 100,000 apiece.

GSMA Intelligence figures show Taiwan had 31 million mobile subscribers at end-September.

Taiwan Mobile president Jamie Lin told Taipei Times it aims for 15 per cent to 20 per cent of its total subscriber base to be on 5G plans by end-2021.

At end-July, Chunghwa Telecom said it targeted full coverage by the end of 2021 and more than 1 million subscribers.

In early November the operator and Taiwan Mobile said they had each deployed about 4,000 5G base stations, while Far EasTone planned to hit that number by end-December and double it in 2021 to provide 90 per cent population coverage.

Chunghwa Telecom’s capex budget for 2020 is TWD30.7 billion ($1.1 billion): during its Q3 earnings call, CFO Vincent Chen said it would wait until 2021 to reveal its next investment plan.

Taiwan Mobile’s overall capex this year is TWD20.4 billion.

The five operators spent a total of TWD138 billion securing 5G spectrum in the 3.5GHz and 28GHz bands at an auction in January.