Taiwan communications market during the next five years will be the broadband market as migration to higher-speed, fiber-optic connections and promotion of value-added services fuel its growth, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

The research firm said that 2010 will be another tough year for operators in Taiwan, with regulator NCC mandated that Taiwan’s operators must cut their fixed monthly rents by 5.7% and their mobile 2G and 3G services by 5.9%, all in an effort to provide some reprieve to consumers badly hit by the economic crisis of 2009.

The regulators expect consumers to recognise savings of more than $100m per year as a result of these rate cuts, a significant hit to Taiwan’s service providers.

The report revealed that the rate cut, combined with significant competition among a large number of players, means that operators are increasing their focus on value-added services including mobile data, mobile content, broadband access, and applications, among others.

Daniel Yu, analyst at Pyramid Research, said: "We expect mobile broadband to grow at a CAGR of 15% between 2010 and 2015, reaching $352m in revenue at the end of the forecast period. Migration to fiber, high-speed 20-Mbit/s+ connections, IPTV, and HD will fuel fixed broadband growth over the next five years, enabling the market to generate $1.8bn by 2015."