Chunghwa Telecom Co (
"By the end of the year we will have completed the construction of 800 base stations in Taipei, Taichung and Kaoshiung and are scheduled to launch services early next year," said Shih Mu-piao (石木標), chief engineer of Chunghwa's mobile business group.
High-speed mobile Internet or the third-generation (3G) mobile services enable users to access advanced multimedia data services such as multimedia messaging, mobile entertainment and mobile location search services.
The telecom giant will first test the 3G waters in a pilot run on Taipei's Jenai Road, in July.
Located between the President Office to the Taipei City Government complex, base stations along the road will make it the nation's first 3G-enabled street, Shih said.
Nokia Oyj, Chunghwa's 3G network equipment supplier, will contribute 100 3G-enabled Nokia 6650s to facilitate the trial run.
Chunghwa is also considering using Motorola A830 handsets as well, Shih said.
To the dismay of users, the majority of cellphones currently on the market lack 3G compatibility.
In an effort to differentiate 3G services from current technology, the company plans to lure customers by offering video content.
"Users will be able to watch short videos or check their pets at home by connecting to home-based digital cameras via their handsets," Shih said.
Chunghwa's 3G network is designed to transmit Internet data at 384kbps (kilobits per second), which is three times faster than current GPRS networks or 33 times faster than traditional mobile-data services.
An analyst said that in an effort to stay ahead of the competition, Chunghwa needs to rush the service to market.
"This is urgent for Chunghwa," said Ann Liang (
In order to maintain its position as the nation's top phone company, Chunghwa can't run the risk of lagging behind competitors, she said.
She expressed concern over the timing of the commercial launch, citing the weak public demand for multimedia or GPRS services.
"The demand [for multimedia data content] still needs to be stimulated before phone operators will start seeing profits," Liang said.
Only about 700,000 mobile users in Taiwan are using GPRS services, or a 3 percent penetration rate, Shih said.
GPRS services allow users to download and transmit photos and graphics, browse the Internet and receive e-mail.
To stimulate demand, Shih said the company has planned to aggressively promote GPRS handsets and services by offering big price discounts.
"We hope to boost GPRS user numbers at Chunghwa from the current 330,000 to a million by the end of this year," Shih said.
In February 2002, the government issued five 3G licenses with bidding prices totaling NT$48.9 billion.
Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communication Inc (亞太行動寬頻), one of the five licensees, said early this year that it expects to launch services by the end of June.
Local Chinese-language media speculated yesterday that the company is now working on network testing.
Asia Pacific Broadband yesterday didn't return calls seeking to confirm whether their launch is on schedule.
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