Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), the nation’s largest telecom operator, is counting on new broadband and data services to offset a decline in voice usage and boost its revenues this year, a company official said yesterday.
“The erosion is primarily on voice usage,” said Chunghwa Telecom CEO Joseph Shieh (謝劍平) on the sidelines of a spring gathering yesterday. “We expect the impact will last for a while.”
Last month alone, sales declined 3.3 percent year-on-year to NT$15.39 billion (US$453 million) as voice usage dropped sharply amid the economic slowdown, the company said on Monday.
“It will be a rough period for the telecom industry this year,” Shieh said.
Chunghwa Telecom expects data services and new innovative services for corporate customers to make up for the drop in voice usage, Shieh said.
Internet TV business could be a growth area, he said.
The company hopes to expand its Internet TV subscription to more than 1 million households by the end of this year, from 670,000 at present.
Broadband may another growth area, he said, adding that the firm aims to increase broadband subscription to 1.3 million households from one million now.
Last year, Chunghwa Telecom saw a 0.25 rise in annual sales to NT$186.78 billion, while net income fell 6.1 percent to NT$45.3 billion.
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