Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s biggest telecom operator, yesterday said it planned to sell mobile Internet devices (MID) made by local motherboard maker Gigabyte Technology Co (技嘉) begining next month to boost usage of mobile Internet services.
Chunghwa Telecom is working with handset makers and PC makers including Apple Inc, HTC Corp (宏達電) and Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) in selling tailor-made smartphones and low-cost laptops to increase mobile Internet revenues to offset revenue decline in voice service.
The cooperation with Gigabyte will mark the first time a Taiwanese telecom operator has sold MID products bundling mobile services, which follows similar moves by global peers.
“We hope to offer a broader lineup to meet our customers’ growing need of connecting to the Internet on mobile devices,” Chunghwa Telecom president Chang Shaio-tung (張曉東) told reporters.
The telecom operator has said it was scheduled to sell the much-anticipated iPhone later this year.
Chunghwa Telecom said mobile service revenues dropped 2 percent for the first three quarters to NT$54.58 billion (US$1.66 billion), while revenues from mobile Internet services expanded nearly 50 percent, thanks to fast-growing demand for its data cards in notebook computers.
“With a bigger 4.8-inch screen and high-speed Internet connection, MIDs are able to provide a better PC-like Internet experience than other mobile devices,” Chang said.
The deepening economic slowdown apparently did not slow Chunghwa Telecom’s spending on handset subsidies for high-end models and capital spending.
“The capex for next year will be similar to the amount for this year,” Chang said.
Chunghwa Telecom plans to spend NT$32 billion on new equipment mostly for building fiber optic networks and increasing 3.5-generation base stations to 6,000 units by the year-end.
Gigabyte’s MID will be available at Senao International Co’s (神腦國際) outlets on Dec. 6 for NT$12,900 and a two-year contract with a minimum of NT$850 per month. The MID originally carried a price tag of NT$19,500.
Senao is a handset retailing arm of Chunghwa Telecom.
The phone company said it was also in talks with BenQ Corp (明基) to sell its MIDs. BenQ launched its first MID in September for Italian telecom operator Tim.
Both BenQ and Gigabyte’s MIDs are based on Intel’s latest Atom processors.
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS