Chunghwa Telecom to launch 3G

Agreeing with Shih, Justin Lin (林友銘), an analyst at MasterLink Investment Advisory (元富投顧), said "mobile operators have to count on huge increases in handset subsidies to stimulate demand."

Simon Hsu (徐玉學), a communications industry researcher at Topology Research Institute (拓墣產業研究所), however, blamed narrow coverage, limited data services and high rates as the cause of Asia Pacific's slower-than-expected progress in promoting its 3G services.

"As Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大) subscribers are already able to download ring tones, transmit pictures and browse real-time news -- features which Asia Pacific also provides with its advanced CDMA 2000 technology -- all at a lower rate, why bother to switch at all?" Hsu said.