According to the latest statistics, 29100 5G base stations have been deployed in Taiwan, China in the past three years, and the 5G network coverage has exceeded 94%. The fierce competition of several major operators makes 5G network construction quite fast.
However, the penetration rate of 5G users is only 25%, which is lower than expected. By contrast, after two years of commercial use of 4G in Taiwan, the user penetration rate reached 62%.

Wu Boxuan, an analyst at the Digitimes Research Center, pointed out that by the end of 2022, the global sales of 5G mobile phones reached 1.4587 billion, but the total number of 5G users was about 1.058 billion, which means that many people hold 5G mobile phones but use 4G services. According to relevant data, the number of 4G global users increased by tens of millions by the end of 2022.
Lin Dongmin, Taiwan’s chief business officer, admitted that consumers’ 5G mobile apps are still the same as five years ago. If there are no new applications, it is no wonder that consumers have no feelings in the 5G era. The new role of telecom operators in the 5G era is to help users improve their lives and learning with new technologies, stimulate demand to a higher level, and make 5G valuable.
According to the analysis of relevant directors of China Telecom, the 5G composition must rely on the end, network and cloud. Operators spend a lot of money to buy spectrum, but the terminal has not changed at present, so users feel little. We must have a variety of new terminals, such as smart glasses, VR helmets or game devices, which may take at least five years.
In the highly anticipated industry market, 5G’s performance is also unsatisfactory. The reason is that there is no real R16~R17 low-latency and large-connection equipment in the 5G market, which can achieve the low-latency technology required in the era of smart factory or Internet of Vehicles.
The dilemma for Taiwan enterprises to adopt 5G private network is that the network is not ready for commercialization at all and lacks sufficient carrier-level reliability R16 and R17 networks. For the telecom industry, the initial investment cost of 5G is 1.8~1.9 times that of 4G. If 4G has not been recovered and R15 equipment has been invested, the investment progress of R16, R17 and SA will begin.