While three new phone companies scrap for new customers in the wide open long-distance market, consumers say they are still hooked on the former king of telecom, state-run Chunghwa Telecom Corp (中華電信).
"I'm use to dialing [Chunghwa's international prefix] 002 to make international calls for decades, and I don't plan to switch to other phone companies," said Chiu Jyh-roong (邱志榮), an employee at a trading company and father of one, who calls friends in US once a week.
A Fujen Catholic University student agreed with Chiu, saying that old habits do die hard.
"I'm used to Chunghwa and don't see any reason to change," said the student who asked to be identified by her surname Hsiao.
New kids on the block in the new fixed line market are Eastern Broadband (
Sparq's promotion program -- NT$2 per minute for calls to the US and NT$1.5 per minute for China -- is currently the lowest rate in Taiwan.
Right after new entrants began drawing customers with attractive discount rates earlier this month, state-run Chunghwa formulated its "buy 2 get 5 free" promotion, set to begin Sept. 1. From the beginning of September to the end of October, users who place outgoing calls to the US and China via Chunghwa will get five minutes free after placing a two-minute call. Callers will be able to get the most desirable rate when the total air time is seven minutes, said Chang Feng-hsiung (
An official from a competitor said this is not a valuable discount for customers. "Chunghwa's average rate per minute depends on the total air time and if users make a call two minutes long, the cost will be twice the price of other fixed line operators," said Ken Chen (
Despite the fact that operators offer a variety of discount packages to attract subscribers, some remain confused as to all of the available options.
"I thought dialing 002 was officially the only way to connect to other countries," a housewife surnamed Chuang said.
But Cheng said that Sparq's advertising blitz was actually designed to let consumers know that they now have a choice.
"In addition to 002, you can choose Sparq's 007 to make international calls ... lower rates are just a tool to attract callers' attention," Cheng said.
Asked how long the company's special pricing will last, Cheng said that it will depend on the market's reaction and the response of the competition.
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