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Chunghwa talks up ADSL

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said yesterday that it's preparing to deliver TV signals over high-speed Internet links later this month at the earliest in a bid to better utilize its broadband networking system.

The technology, known as Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line, or ADSL, allows TV signals to be pumped over ordinary cop-per phone lines.

The announcement came after the state-run phone company was granted a cable-TV license to offer multimedia-on-demand (MOD) services on Tuesday.

"With 3-million ADSL subscribers, Chunghwa Telecom hopes diversify its business by better utilizing its broadband networking," company spokesman Chang Feng-hsiung (張豐雄).

Chunghwa Telecom expected to have 100,000 subscribers for the first year and expand to 1 million within three years, chairman Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) told reporters during an annual meeting yesterday.

Hochen said the company is in talks with some Japanese content providers, including Sony Corp, to provide online games or other programs.

He said the company's earnings this year will grow from last year and it will stick to its policy of paying 90-percent of its profits as cash dividends, but he did not elaborate.

Chunghwa Telecom said its profits rose to NT$48.4 billion last year with sales of NT$179.1 billion during the same period.

Chunghwa Telecom MOD subscribers will be able to watch movies, or do online shopping at a minimal charge of NT$200 per month, Chang said.

Rates for paid programs are still undecided as the company is in discussion with local governments, he said.

At present, MOD services are only available in the north, including Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu, and subscribers have just 10 to 15 channels to choose from.

Chang said Chunghwa's offerings were still better than its rivals such as cable-TV operator China Networking Systems Co (中嘉), because subscribers to those services would face problems with heavy Internet traffic as they get on the Internet for services similar to MOD through a shared cable with a narrower band-width.

Chunghwa Telecom shares slid by 1.9 percent to NT$52 on the TAIEX yesterday.
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