Chunghwa eyes healthcare industry

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's largest fixed-line operator, is mulling tapping into the healthcare industry by means of its multimedia-on-demand (MOD) platform.

The company is slated to join forces with iD SoftCapital Group (智融集團), a venture capitalist under Acer Inc, in an attempt to establish a foothold in the rising industry, according to reports in Chinese-language newspapers yesterday.

While full collaboration details are yet to be revealed, the project will kick off with 500 MOD interactive kiosks being established in the nation's hospitals, healthcare units and campuses, company chairman Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) was reported as saying.

The number of kiosks will be boosted to 18,000 in the long-run, with medical and healthcare content to come from domestic medical associations.

The MOD will eventually become a means for the public to seek medical information in hospitals or at home, the telecom operator said.

Chunghwa Telecom started its MOD service, which airs television programs over broadband networks, in 2004.

It had garnered 120,000 users for the service by April and aimed to expand this customer base to approximately 250,000 by the end of the year, half of an earlier target figure, according to company statistics.

Chunghwa Telecom intends to rope in medical equipment suppliers in the future to introduce domestic homecare programs and medical facilities, as it seeks another potential revenue booster, the reports said.

With ongoing talks with iD SoftCapital -- established by Acer's founder Stan Shih (施振榮) in March last year and entrusted with managing Acer's assets -- Chunghwa Telecom does not rule out the possibility that both entities will form a new venture capital firm to fund projects for the healthcare sector, the reports said, citing Hochen.

In May, the operator took the lead by launching an "asthma mobile service" targeted at asthma patients, who account for around 8 percent of the nation's population.

In cooperation with Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, the new service enables patients to check air quality and temperature changes on mobile phones, which also provide medical data analysis on asthma conditions.

Chunghwa Telecom is not alone in jumping onto the healthcare bandwagon, whose business opportunities have attracted a number of electronics companies.

The list includes Micro-Star International Co (微星科技), the nation's leading motherboard and graphics card maker, which has a medical electronics team developing related products and plans to churn out robots capable of taking care of patients in the future, the reports said.