Taiwan 3G mobile phone volume declines

Affected by slowdown in the 3G market, VIBO Telecom has lowered
its rebate value for 3G subscribers. The sales volume, which reached 97,000
units in September, declined by 10 percent compared to August. It was also the
first time it declined since last year November when monthly sales volume
reached 40,000 to 50,000 units. The change in rebate policy was also a cause in
the drop of sales volume, with a decrease of 10,000 to 20,000 units a month.
VIBO reported the subscribers reached about 3,00,000, which is still a long way
to reach this year's goal of 7,00,000 subscribers. VIBO indicated that as the
rebate amount decreased, the loss of VIBO revenue also got diminished. In the
first half year, VIBO lost up to NT$2.5 billion. With the decrease of rebate,
VIBO can shrink the loss within NT$5 billion this year. The total sales volume
of 3G was 97,000 units in September. Nokia accounted for 35 percent as the
highest. Sony Ericsson accounted for 28.4 percent as the second with growth of
8.7 percent over August. The third was Motorola with marketshare of 15 percent.