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Fixed-line, cable TV providers offer free Internet calls

Fixed-line operators Taiwan Fixed Network Co (台灣固網) and Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網) have joined forces with local cable television operators to provide free Internet calls between different networks in an effort to break Chunghwa Telecom Co's (中華電信) monopoly.

Starting yesterday, subscribers could make voice calls by simply hooking up their cable modem to the TV, eliminating the hassle of turning on the computer or applying for a new number.

The nation's five cable TV operators, including Eastern Multimedia (東森) and Taiwan Broadband Communications (台灣寬頻), have a combined subscriber base of more than 3 million, accounting for about 80 percent of the nation's overall cable TV households.

"The cable phone will gradually become a major tool for making voice calls at home, replacing Chunghwa Telecom's fixed-line service," said Wang Lin-tai (王令台), chairman of Asia Pacific Telecom Group (亞太電信集團), which oper-ates Asia Pacific Broadband.

Chunghwa Telecom, the nation's biggest phone company, still controls 99 percent of the fixed-line market in terms of local calls, even though the government liberalized the telecoms industry in 1996.

However, the unprecedented alliance between fixed-line operators and cable TV operators "would cause a reshuffle on the fixed-line landscape," Taiwan Fixed Network chairman Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) said.

Subscribers of the two fixed-line carriers and the five cable TV operators can also enjoy a 15 percent discount when they call overseas, or other mobile numbers, making their charges the lowest among local mobile operators.
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