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Southeast Asia lures Chunghwa Telecom: chief

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation's biggest telecom operator, plans to invest in the fast-growing Southeast Asian telecom market this year as part of its effort to boost stagnant revenues, a company executive said yesterday.

With the growing use of value-added services and investment gains, Chunghwa Telecom's consolidated revenues would grow slightly this year from more than NT$200 billion (US$6.4 billion) last year, company chairman Hochen Tan (賀陳旦) told a media briefing.

"Overseas investments will be one of the company's top priorities," he said.

OPPORTUNITIES

"As the political situation in [South] east Asian countries stabilizes, they will need to build infrastructure for telecom services, especially wireless service," Hochen said. "We hope to see some results this year."

The growth in the region would be fast in light of low penetration, the company said.

Chunghwa Telecom hopes to build on its recent restructuring of investment venture Chunghwa Global to build its business, Hochen said.

"We are eagerly anticipating working with local telecom companies to provide telecom services for those countries, via cooperative efforts or forming new joint ventures," he said.

Chunghwa Telecom boosted its holdings in its investment ventures Chunghwa Telecom Global Inc (中華全球) and Donghwa Telecom Co (東華投資) from 49 percent to 100 percent in early December, paving the way for its expansion overseas.

VIETNAMESE TRAIL

Hochen declined to comment on speculation that the company was in talks to buys a stake in Vietnam Military Telecommunications Corp, Vietnam's biggest telecom carrier.

He did say Chunghwa Telecom would follow in the steps of other Taiwanese companies in exploring overseas markets other than China after Beijing reduced its investment breaks, Hochen said.

Local manufacturers, including the nation's biggest electronics maker Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and major laptop computer maker Compal Electronics Inc (仁寶), are turning to Vietnam for new manufacturing sites as well as business opportunities.

DOMESTIC OPTIONS

At home, Chunghwa Telecom hopes to more than double the number of its third-generation (3G) subscribers to 3.5 million and to boost its Internet-TV sign-ups to 1 million this year by offering discounts on purchases of high-definition Sony TVs.

Chunghwa Telecom shares dropped 0.14 percent to NT$69.9 yesterday, underperforming the broader market, which advanced 1.69 percent.
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