With international business travel slowed by an estimated 27 percent since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, Taiwan's top telecommunications company said yesterday it is looking to connect business people electronically.
"Business travel can be substituted with virtual meetings. We have therefore decided to offer an audio-conferencing service," said Lin Che-cheng (
The state-run company's audio-conferencing service has been undergoing testing since August.
"Over the past two weeks we have received a lot of inquiries about virtual-conferencing services, so we decided to push our new product onto the market immediately."
The service allows a Taiwan-based company to register the phone number of, for example, its US, Canada, Hong Kong and Singapore partners, and then permits all parties to call the given number at the same time, Lin said. Up to 100 people can join the meeting simultaneously.
Chunghwa has created a fire-wall to prevent eavesdropping by unwanted listeners.
The solution can serve as an economical substitute for video conferencing.
"A two-hour video conference with four participants might costs about NT$8,000, while Chunghwa's audio service would cost about NT$3,500," said Cheng Ya-ching (張雅晴), an official from GenRad Inc Taiwan (美商堅睿特), a US-based software company with branch offices in Taiwan, Germany and the UK.
GenRad Taiwan is a client of Chunghwa's audio-conferencing service.
Chunghwa is the only local company that provides audio-conferencing services, while others continue to watch the market.
"We remain unsure whether this product will ultimately be successful," said Kuo Ming-chi (郭明琪), public relations director at Sparq (速博).
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