Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom eyes China 3G market - report
04.17.07, 2:23 AM ET
TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Chunghwa Telecom is looking to China's third-generation mobile phone market despite strict government restrictions on such investments, a report said.
The Financial Times quoted Chunghwa Telecom chairman Hochen Tan as saying that the company plans to team up with China Telecom and China Netcom once they obtain 3G licenses. 'Although the Taiwan market is much smaller than China's, there are similarities in our habits, our language, our stories,' he told the newspaper. The company expects Chinese-language data content to be the engine of future growth, it said.
Currently, Chunghwa Telecom has 1.03 mln 3G subscribers and some 7.5 mln 2G users. It expects its 3G subscribers to rise to 2.2 mln by the end of 2007 from 850,000 last year.
Hochen said he had started to lobby the government to amend the existing regulations banning local telecom companies from investing in the industry in China or offer services there. 'It will be a window. Once it closes, there will be no other big good opportunities,' he said of the Chinese market. Chunghwa Telecom also plans to take an indirect stake in a small mainland telecom company through a third-country holding, as well as invest in telecom operators in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia, he said.
The government's stake in Chunghwa Telecom has been reduced to 34.76 pct following its privatization in August 2005.
afp/kmq
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[Edit: The king pins are all getting aligned ... HK $ vs TW $] |
