Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) is on the track toward privatization despite the government's U-turn on a decision to sell off shares of the state-owned China Airlines (中華航空) entirely into the private sector. The policy change on China Airlines, raised doubts as to whether the government would follow through with plans to release control of other profitable state-run companies, particularly Chunghwa Telecom.
But, Tony Tsai (蔡東松), a senior telecom analyst with Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), said Chunghwa's privatization would move forward.
"We believe the government will further unload its stake in Chunghwa Telecom, as it needs the proceeds to fill the budget gap," Tsai said. Taiwan Ratings Corp is a local arm of Standard and Poor's Rating Services. Chunghwa Telecom is required to allocate NT$24.9 billion, or more than half of its 2004 earnings target of NT$41.58 billion, to the national coffers this year, the company said.
In its latest large-scale share offerings in July last year, Chunghwa Telecom collected NT$9.8 billion from shares auctioned domestically and US$1.4 billion from in American Depositary Receipts.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the biggest shareholder, still currently owns 65 percent of in Chunghwa Telecom's shares after selling off the remainder over the past three years. The ministry needs to sell another 15 percent before nation's biggest phone company can be considered privatized. The company controls nearly 80 percent of the market for broadband ADSL subscribers and has around 8 million mobile subscribers.
"We believe the direction [of privatizing Chunghwa Telecom] will remain unchanged," Tsai Tui (蔡堆), vice minister of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday.
The ministry backed off from a plan to privatize China Airlines just a week after it experienced a deadly plane crash in Penghu County in 2002. "Chunghwa Telecom's situation differs from that of China Airlines. New plans for share sales are under way," Tsai Tui said.
The ministry is considering repeating is previous initiative of selling shares on the US and Taiwanese markets simultaneously to lower its holdings below 50 percent, which will make the company's privatization complete, Tsai said.
"Compared to China Airlines, Chunghwa Telecom should have an easier ride, as its stronger profitability will attract investors ," Taiwan Ratings' Tony Tsai said.
In the first nine months of this year, Chunghwa Telecom reaped profits to the tune NT$39.6 billion, or NT$4.11 a share, on revenue of NT$138.44 billion.
Investors snapped up Chunghwa Telecom shares, pushing the stock's price up to NT$62 -- a three-year high -- on the Taiwan Stock Exchange yesterday.
There are, however, obstacles to be cleared before the privatization can be completed. The ministry will only be allowed to sell more Chunghwa Telecom stocks after disputes over retirement issues are resolved. Originally, the government had planned to turn the state-run telecom service into a private company by the end of this year. But the plan was thwarted after the labor union representing 29,000 Chunghwa Telecom employees came to loggerheads with management over job security.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last