State-run Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) yesterday announced the inception of the nation's first Push-to-Talk Over Cellular (PoC) service as part of its long-term efforts to boost sales, a company official said.
The new service, which turns mobile phones into walkie-talkie-like devices, allows mobile users to connect to other cellular phones with the push of a specially-
designed button.
"We don't expect the PoC service to have an immediate sales contribution, as we are still in the early stage. But, in the long run, the new service will boost Chunghwa Telecom's average revenue per user [ARPU] and sales," company president Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) said.
Lu did not elaborate about how much the new service will help boost the nation's largest phone company's ARPU, which currently stands at NT$750 among its 8 million mobile subscribers.
Chunghwa Telecom's revenues rose 2.4 percent to NT$121.3 billion in the first eight months of the year from a year ago. Net profits also increased to NT$35.4 billion.
The company has targeted corporate users, including construction workers and restaurant waitstaff, for the new service. It hopes to get 100,000 customers signed up for the lower-price PoC service by the end of the year, Lu said.
It is offering four packages, starting at NT$200 per month in additional fees for the PoC service. Nokia and Motorola are offering exclusively-designed handsets for Chunghwa's subscribers.
Meanwhile, private mobile service carriers such as Far EasTone Communications Co (
"We will closely monitor how mobile users respond to the PoC service. Basically, we are taking a wait-and-see attitude about such a service," said Yvonne Lan (藍綺萍), spokeswoman for Far EasTone.
Instead, Far EasTone, the nation's second-largest cellphone company, is developing products for users in automobiles to boost sales in a market where mobile-phone subscriptions exceed the population, she said.
"People sitting in cars are a very good audience," Jan Nilsson, chief executive of Far EasTone, said in an interview at the 3GSM World Congress conference in Singapore. "They are what you call a captive audience -- they are sitting in a car and can't go anywhere else."
Far EasTone is the biggest investor in a consortium that won a government contract to implement an electronic toll-road payment system.
It may follow the system's introduction with services allowing users to pay electronically for parking and gas, and to obtain data and entertainment while in their cars.
The toll-road system is scheduled to begin in 2006, and additional services may come after that, Nilsson said.
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