Faced with increasingly acute competition at domestic front, Chunghwa Telecom is actively endeavoring to extend its reach into the fledgling Southeast Asian market, by buying into two major local mobile-phone carriers Vinaphone and MobiFone, and even striving for a 3G license in Thailand, reported the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN), sister publication of Taiwan Economic News (TEN).
Far Eastone Telecom reportedly also plans to join hands with China Mobile to gain a 3G license in Thailand, underscoring effort among Taiwanese telecom carriers to search for new growth momentum by making inroads into new markets.
The move of Chunghwa appears to be confirmed by a recent visit of Lu Shyue-chin, chairman of the company, to Vinaphone and MobiFone, although Lu refused to comment on the plan.
A Chunghwa manager admitted the company`s strong interest in the fast-growing Southeast Asian market, such as Vietnam and Thailand, both of whose mobile-phone penetration rates reach only 40%.
Chunghwa has already established a solid base in the Vietnamese market, as it has joined hands with Viettel in setting up Viettel-CHU, an information data center (IDC). The joint venture is expected to break even in December and begin to turn in profits in 2010.
Chunghwa and Viettel started their cooperation in Vietnam
So far, Vietnam has issued four 3G licenses, won by Viettel, Vinaphone, under VNPTT Group, MobiFone, and EVE Telecom.
Chunghwa has turned aggressive in overseas investments recently, due to the increasing competition at domestic front, especially in view of the aggressive inroads made by its archrival, Taiwan Mobile, in the field of digital convergence, following the latter`s takeover of Kbro Co., Ltd., a leading local cable-TV operator.
Meanwhile, Chunghwa is reportedly seeking to join hands with a local carrier to strive for one of the four new 3G licenses to be issued by Thai government next year. Far Eastone also plans to team up with China Mobile to win a 3G license in Thailand.
