Chunghwa Telecom Presents 4G Services at Shanghai MAE 2014 Show

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd. promoted its 4G services based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile technology, including 3D in-vehicle navigation and cloud-based online games, at the Mobile Asia Expo 2014 trade show, held June 11-13 in Shanghai, China.

This is the first showing overseas of 4G services by Taiwan's No.1 telecom after it launched the services in Taiwan late May, suggesting the company's determination to offer such speedy mobile network overseas, which is four to seven times faster than 3G service in downloading and 10 times speedier in uploading.

Chunghwa rolled out the services one month earlier than planned, becoming the island's first telecom to provide the advanced mobile services, whose coverage, according to TV news, is spotty across Taiwan. Catching domestic competitors offguard with the unexpected inauguration, company chairman Rick Tsai vowed to snatch up 40% of the island's 4G market by the end of this year to secure the company's leadership in the new arena. While touting the company will accelerate 4G infrastructure investment, Tsai said his company has no plans to add investment capital this year.

Taiwan's industry executives estimate the island's market for 4G services at around two million subscribers this year.

The company's booth at the show was designated by the organizers as one of the stopovers for VIP tours as a result of the high affirmations the company has won internationally for many of its value-added mobile services.

At the booth, Chunghwa displayed 3D in-vehicle navigation service, Taiwan's first navigation service using the real-time in situ three-dimension technology that provides drivers virtual in situ three-dimensional street scenes. Also, the service provides high-definition real-time video of traffic situation of planned routes.

Its GameNow cloud-based gaming service allows users to experience high-performance online games on smartphones, including providing the 30 most played games.

At the Shanghai trade show, Chunghwa and the software developer Mozilla Corp. of the United States announced co-developing apps on Mozilla Firefox OS platform.

Chunghwa executives say that the company will provide 30 models 4G phones to service subscribers initially and increase the model number to 50 in one to two months afterward. To sway 2G and 3G subscribers to shift to 4G service, the carrier will provide 4G subscribers NT$1,000-2,000 (US$33-66) of subsidy for signing up a contract including phone number and handset, better terms than that for the company's 3G subscribers.

This year alone, Chunghwa is estimated to purchase over one million 4G phones, or about  60% of all types of phones the company will buy.

Initially, the company's 4G service will focus on four high value-added services: high-definition entertainment video, high-quality music, 3D navigation, and cloud-based online gaming. (KL)