Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said Apple Inc’s iPhone will hit its stores on Dec. 13, the latest effort by the nation’s biggest phone company to boost revenues amid declining mobile voice business.
Chunghwa Telecom will be the first local telecom operator to sell the iPhone in Taiwan, which has lagged behind other Asian markets such as India and Philippines in selling the smartphone.
Chunghwa Telecom said it was in talks with HTC Corp (宏達電), which makes the world’s first handset running Google Inc’s Android system, to offer second-generation G phones as well.
“The sale of the iPhone certainly will help boost our data revenues as the packages cover a wide range of data transmission services such as push e-mails,” Chunghwa Telecom spokesman Shih Mu-piao (石木標) said.
“Our average revenue per user [ARPU] from iPhone users may be more than NT$1,500 [US$45], compared with NT$1,100 ARPU from 3G subscribers,” Shih said.
Data services accounts for 10 percent of Chunghwa Telecom’s overall mobile revenues of NT$18.29 billion in the third quarter.
The company said it would sell iPhones exclusively for an unspecified period, with a two-year service contract carrying a minimal month fee of NT$1,049.
To get a free iPhone with 8GB memory space, people will have to sign a two-year contract with a monthly charge of NT$2,549. Or they can buy the phone from Chunghwa Telecom for at least NT$26,600 and get a prepaid number.
“We are targeting gift shoppers during Christmas and Lunar New Year holidays,” vice president Lin Jen-hon (林仁紅) said.
Chunghwa Telecom aims to sell 50,000 iPhones by March, Lin said.
However, officials admitted that this might not be the best time to be launching the iPhone because this could be the worst shopping season in recent years.
Chunghwa Telecom will begin taking orders for its iPhones today. The presale will last to Dec 10.
Share prices of Chunghwa Telecom rose 0.57 percent to NT$52.5, better than the broader market’s 0.15 percent gain yesterday.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday said that its research institute has launched its first advanced artificial intelligence (AI) large language model (LLM) using traditional Chinese, with technology assistance from Nvidia Corp. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), said the LLM, FoxBrain, is expected to improve its data analysis capabilities for smart manufacturing, and electric vehicle and smart city development. An LLM is a type of AI trained on vast amounts of text data and uses deep learning techniques, particularly neural networks, to process and generate language. They are essential for building and improving AI-powered servers. Nvidia provided assistance
DOMESTIC SUPPLY: The probe comes as Donald Trump has called for the repeal of the US$52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which the US Congress passed in 2022 The Office of the US Trade Representative is to hold a hearing tomorrow into older Chinese-made “legacy” semiconductors that could heap more US tariffs on chips from China that power everyday goods from cars to washing machines to telecoms equipment. The probe, which began during former US president Joe Biden’s tenure in December last year, aims to protect US and other semiconductor producers from China’s massive state-driven buildup of domestic chip supply. A 50 percent US tariff on Chinese semiconductors began on Jan. 1. Legacy chips use older manufacturing processes introduced more than a decade ago and are often far simpler than
STILL HOPEFUL: Delayed payment of NT$5.35 billion from an Indian server client sent its earnings plunging last year, but the firm expects a gradual pickup ahead Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), the world’s No. 5 PC vendor, yesterday reported an 87 percent slump in net profit for last year, dragged by a massive overdue payment from an Indian cloud service provider. The Indian customer has delayed payment totaling NT$5.35 billion (US$162.7 million), Asustek chief financial officer Nick Wu (吳長榮) told an online earnings conference. Asustek shipped servers to India between April and June last year. The customer told Asustek that it is launching multiple fundraising projects and expected to repay the debt in the short term, Wu said. The Indian customer accounted for less than 10 percent to Asustek’s
Gasoline and diesel prices this week are to decrease NT$0.5 and NT$1 per liter respectively as international crude prices continued to fall last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to decrease to NT$29.2, NT$30.7 and NT$32.7 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, while premium diesel is to cost NT$27.9 per liter at CPC stations and NT$27.7 at Formosa pumps, the companies said in separate statements. Global crude oil prices dropped last week after the eight OPEC+ members said they would
RSS