While there's much hype surrounding GigaMedia's massive success, the other major cable broadband player has been keeping somewhat of a low profile. It's name is Eastern Multimedia Co.
If the name sounds familiar, that's because they're already in a vast amount of households throughout Taiwan. A member of the China Rebar Group, Eastern shares the cable TV market with its archival, Koos group, GigaMedia's parents.
In fact Eastern has a lot in common with Giga; it started operations at about the same time, has the support of its cable TV parentage and is even planning to list on the NASDAQ later in the year.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
As another company offering broadband access, "Giga is both an inspiration and an encouragement," Eastern Multimedia spokesman Chen Chuen-mu told Reuters. "They exceeded our expectations, but our own progress has also exceeded our expectations," Chen was quoted as saying.
While GigaMedia may be hogging the limelight now, Eastern's star is ready to rise. It's got the breeding, the backing and the service.
Company officials are being tight-lipped about the financials like revenue and costs, but at this stage that doesn't really matter. Being from the China Rebar stable you can bet that they have enough financial clout behind them to propel them forward. Eastern Multimedia Co, a division of Eastern Multimedia Group, has a market cap of around NT$55 billion, that includes the company TV business.
While Giga makes claims of 3.4 million homes passed, a figure that has raised eyebrows, Eastern is somewhat more conservative in its accounting.
One Eastern source says the company and its affiliates boasts 1 million subscribers, with another 700,000 that have contracts with Eastern.
"There's big figures floating around, but we are taking a more conservative approach [in the calculations]. We have 1.7 million households which are potential broadband ISP subscribers," an Eastern official said on condition of anonymity.
While they may seem more conservative about potential market size, they're not so shy when it comes to growth prospects.
Asked about the company's broadband rollout, Sarah Feng, Eastern's Director of International Relations, said that they would be able to service 100,000 households by year end. And how many of those will actually be connected?
"About 100,000. We have a bold estimate because of our technology," she said. "Everyone knows we can reach more than Koos."
Regardless of the variable calculation methods, most agree that at this stage the race for Taiwan's broadband market is wide open. Eastern boasts similar figures to Giga; it has around 10,000 subscribers already connected, and another 30,000 on the waiting list. "Our technology is all there. We were ready last year," Feng said. "We are just waiting on the licenses.
Eastern's two-way service, which allows high-speed to data to flow both into and out of the home, requires licensing from government authorities. "Once they sign the forms, we will be ready to go," Feng said.
Eastern is also getting into online content. Last month it launched its flagship broadband site, ETWebs (www.etwebs.com) in addition to its already existent narrowband portal EThome (www.ethome.com.tw).
An array of channels will be added to the lineup, with the future seeing fast-flowing video and audio.
They're even got into the news caper, with the launch of ETtoday (www.ettoday.com) last week. The news channel is staffed by around 140 reporters and will be updated around the clock.
While ETtoday, like Eastern's other sites, will be up against significant competition in the battle for Net surfers, the company is hoping it can use its TV viewership to put it ahead of the pack.
Rumors have also being flying about the company being in talks with US heavyweight America Online on a possible alliance, but true to form, that could not being confirmed.
"We are talking to lots of possible partners, and when time comes we will let people know about them," Feng said.
The same story goes for entry into the China market. "We are taking China step by step," she said. "We don't really have any alliances, but we are planning ahead, not losing contact."
So is Taiwan a testing ground for entry into China?
"Yes," she said. "Taiwan is not only a training ground, it is a creative and invention center. In time China will get access to technology and information."
One analyst was more blunt about the potential of China however. "Forget China," said Eddie Chang an analyst at CSFB in Taipei. "The market now is in Taiwan."
But Eastern is looking further than China. After all, Feng pointed out, the Chinese-speaking community is spread around the world, from Canada to Singapore to the UK.
At the moment content, including advertising, e-retailing and value-added services like Web hosting, are only tiny parts of the business.
But the company estimates that within five years the broadband and content businesses will split revenue 60-40. At the moment they are selling Web banners as part of TV ad packages, but one day they will stand on their own.
Who is the competition then? "Giga definitely," said Feng.
But also the competing technologies. While cable modems have grabbed the early lead in the broadband market, Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line technology which uses traditional copper wiring is gaining ground quickly.
"DSL is the hot topic in the US. If we are talking about competition, then ADSL is the one," said Danny Feng, a financial analyst at Eastern.
"We do have a competitive advantage though, because cable penetration is high in Asia."
But Eastern has a strategy to keep ahead of the pack. They have already been testing Internet telephony in Hsinchu and are planning to get commercial teleconferencing up and running by the end of the year and are working on interactive TV.
"Probably your grandma won't go online," said Danny Feng. "But if we create a certain platform then we can encourage people to go to interactive TV, which is our main objective."
"Interactive TV is the best strategy to help us keep growing," he said.
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