Chunghwa Telecom establishes subsidiary in Shanghai (China)
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) has announced that it has established a wholly owned subsidiary, Chunghwa Telecom (China), in Shanghai. The company opened the subsidiary to promote CHT’s intelligent energy-saving solutions iEN, information and communication technology (ICT) integrated solutions for business use, smart and green building solutions as well as value-added services based on mobile networks and the internet.
CHT indicated that iEN will be initially promoted in Fujian Province, southeastern China, through cooperation with the provincial branch of China Mobile .
It pointed out that target customers for ICT integrated solutions will be initially Taiwan-based enterprises or business units in China which are using CHT services, and then foreign enterprises operating in China.
Chunghwa Telecom to offer free femtocells (Taiwan)
Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) has announced that it has finished its initial acquirement of femtocells and will provide the devices for free use by business users and individual heavy users of data communications to off-load the growing traffic on its mobile telecom networks.
CHT did not reveal the volume and price of procurement but indicated that US$100 would be an acceptable procurement price.
Chunghwa Telecom, Alcatel-Lucent to launch Taiwan’s first GPON
Alcatel-Lucent has established a contract with Taiwanese telco Chunghwa Telecom to launch the country’s first gigabit passive optical network (GPON).
The new infrastructure will allow Chunghwa to provide triple-play services to its residential and business customers.
As a part of the launch, Alcatel-Lucent will deploy its 7342 Intelligent Services Access Managers (ISAM) while the GPON platform will be complemented by the Alcatel-Lucent 5520 Access Management System (AMS). Alcatel-Lucent will also be in charge of software integration, network management and system installation. Alcatel-Lucent has indicated that the launch is scheduled to commence in 3Q11.
According to Rajeev Singh-Molares, president of Alcatel-Lucent’s activities in the Asia Pacific region, this GPON project is a key milestone helping lead Taiwan into a new era of ultra high-speed service creation, delivery and innovation. It also reflects company’s strong commitment to the development of broadband infrastructure in Taiwan, having already supplied the Taiwanese market with xDSL, IP routing, optical transport and mobile solutions.
Five telcos sign Taiwan-China cable link deal
Five major telecoms operators from Taiwan and China have reportedly signed a deal to build the first ever undersea cable directly linking Taiwan to the Chinese mainland. Although the contract is still pending the Taiwanese government’s final approval, it will see the two countries cross the Taiwan Strait with a 220km cable linking the Taiwanese coastal town of Tamshui to Fuzhou City in South-East China.
US$27.4 million project has reportedly been spearheaded by Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest telecoms company by subscribers, although three other as-yet-unnamed Taiwanese operators have also confirmed their participation in the cable deployment. Chang Xiaobing, chairman of China Unicom was the sole Chinese representative at the signing ceremony, although China Telecom and China Mobile have been widely tipped to join the project at a later date.
The undersea cable project the first collaboration between the two countries since hostilities began in 1949 coincides with the rise to power of China-friendly president, Ma Ying-jeou, who took office in May 2008, and promised to boost economic ties with the mainland. Although Taiwan officially lifted the ban on building a direct cross-strait cable in 2009, the subject is still a sensitive issue in Taiwan, and at a parliamentary session on 5 January, opposition lawmakers criticized plans, citing national security concerns regarding China using the cable to monitor Taiwanese telephone calls.
Chunghwa Telecom plans to double Wi-Fi coverage (Taiwan)
Taiwan’s largest telecoms operator, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) has announced that it aims to double the number of Wi-Fi hotspots currently in operation, after witnessing better-than-expected progress in terms of infrastructure construction in 2010.
According to company spokesman Shih Mu-piao, two days back they observed that they had exceeded their goal. They are therefore planning to double the figure by the end of this year.
By the end of 2010 CHT had rolled out a total of 10,000 Wi-Fi hotspots, compared to an expected 6,000. As a result, the operator has targeted a total of 20,000 hotspots by end-2011. In addition, CHT will roll out 1,100 additional 3G base stations during 2011, taking its total to around 9,000.
Shih added that the company has planed its 2011 capital expenditure at US$171.2 million, which includes US$103.36 million set aside for the expansion of its 3G infrastructure.
Chunghwa Telecom Q4 revenue increases (China)
China’s largest telecom operator, Chunghwa Telecom Co’s executive expects revenues from value-added services to grow 30% this year as the rising uptake of smartphones and tablet devices urge demand for its Internet access and data services.
According to Chunghwa Telecom Vice President Shih Mu-Piao, the nation’s continued economic recovery will also boost voice and data traffic this year. The company aims to increase revenues from value-added services to US$470 million this year. That would bring revenue contribution from value-added services to about 20% this year, from 17% last year.
He added that the growing popularity of tablet devices, like smartphones, will help boost usage of their value-added services. It is a brand new market as children and older people will find it easier to get online using tablets instead of PCs. Chunghwa Telecom plans to purchase at least 100,000 Android-powered tablet computers with voice function like Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Tab, in addition to 700,000 smartphones, this year for bundling with its service packages.
Chunghwa Telecom reported that net profit last year grew 9% year-on-year to $47.69 billion from $43.76 billion in 2009 because of increasing usage of its value-added services and a lower business tax rate. The tax rate fell to 17% last year, from 25% in 2009.Revenues rose 1.3% last year, from $198.36 billion in 2009.
Chunghwa Telecom inks a Cloud-Computing deal with Skycloud (China)
Chunghwa Telecom Co. has signed a deal with Beijing-based Skycloud Technology (China) Inc. to mutually develop infrastructure and solutions for cloud-computing services in China.
According to Chunghwa Telecom’s statement, the pact is aimed at providing solutions and services to customers in mainland China.
Cloud computing allows users to access and store data through the Internet instead of on their own hardware.
Chunghwa Telecom to increase joint acquisitions with Vodafone
Taiwan’s Chunghwa Telecom is expecting to increase joint procurement with Vodafone in the future after it launches its first Vodafone branded wireless LAN card.
According to the Vice-President of Chunghwa Telecom`s Mobile Business Group, M.B. Shih, the two companies have vowed to expand joint procurement coverage to include smartphones, tablet PCs and electronic books.
The joint purchase alliance, led by Vodafone, now has some 60 members who connect as many as 500 million people with their services, making it the world`s largest of its kind. The alliance has started operation this year by choosing Huawei as its supplier of Android smartphones. The Vodafone-branded wireless LAN cards Chunghwa will start to sell in the coming January is also made by Huawei.
Although Taiwan`s MediaTek and HTC have become Vodafone`s contract suppliers of wireless chips and smartphones, respectively, they have not been listed as suppliers to the joint purchase alliance.
Chunghwa Telecom estimated to earn US$0.20 per share in 2011
Taiwan’s No.1 telecom carrier, Chunghwa Telecom is expecting its after-tax net income for 2011 to hit a record high of US$0.20 per share partly due to the right to set rates for fixed line-cellular connection it retook from other local rivals.
The Cabinet-level National Communications Commission (NCC), Taiwan`s supreme regulator of telecom and broadcasting services, in July this year announced its decision to return the rate-setting right from local mobile-service providers to Chunghwa Telecom beginning on Jan. 1, 2011 to comply with international trend.
As the rate-setting privilege is a money-making source, Chunghwa Telecom estimates its fixed-line operation alone will have revenue of around US$666 million in 2011, likely swelling its 2011 revenue to approximately US$6.6 billion based on the projected US$6 billion for its 2010 revenue goal.
Services that the company will also count on for boosting 2011 revenue include broadband Internet connection based on optic-fiber network. The company vows to invest US$0.66 billion next year to boost the connection speed up to 100 megabits per second as part of its pledge to put a total of US$2 billion in five years into the project to improve its optic-fiber network.
The project is in combination with the government`s plan to connect 80% of households throughout the island to wired broadband networks capable of beaming data at speed of 100Mbps in 2015.
Value-added mobile service is estimated to bring in revenue of US$466 million for the firm in 2011, up around 30% from this year. To accomplish this goal, the carrier will add 3.75-generation cellular towers and Wi-Fi access hotspots, and offer Femtocell base stations to households.
Chunghwa Telecom, China Unicom in discussions over Cooperation
China Unicom Chairman Chang Xiaobing will soon hold talks with Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd.`s president, S.T. Chang, over cooperation on value-added mobile service, roaming service and submarine-cable service.
Industry executives projected that the two carriers would work together to set up a digital convergence platform for iPad and iPhone for Chinese community, lay more submarine cables directly connecting Taiwan with mainland China, and lower rates of roaming services on the two sides of the Taiwan Straits.
According to the executives, a Chinese digital convergence platform for iPad and iPhone would help accelerate the entry of Taiwan`s digital contents into the mainland market. They added that more submarine cables that directly link the two sides are needed as the telecom bandwidth required by the people on the two sides for cross-strait connections has grown at annual rate of 20%. Chunghwa Telecom and China Telecom are laying the cable that link Xiamen of the mainland and Kinmen Island of Taiwan while a cable that will link Danshui of Taiwan and Fujian of the mainland is being constructed by Tawan`s top three telecom carriers and their mainland counterparts.
China Unicom has also invited its global partners to attend the conference in Hong Kong. The partners include Taiwan`s telecom carriers Chunghwa, Taiwan Mobile Corp., Far EasTone Telecom Co., Ltd., and Vibo Telecom Co., Ltd.; equipment suppliers Nokia-Siemens, Ericsson, and Alcatel-Lucent; and handset makers HTC Corp.
