Chunghwa may invest NT$5 billion in WiMax

Catherine Yang and Mark Lee, TAIPEI

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Taiwan's largest phone operator, plans to invest between NT$4 billion (US$122 million) and NT$5 billion through the next five years to offer WiMax high-speed wireless services if it gains a license. The company may start WiMax services by the end of 2008 if a permit is granted, Vice President Mu-Piao Shih said in an interview in Singapore today. Thirteen companies, including Chunghwa Telecom and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co. submitted bids for six WiMax licenses to be auctioned in July, the National Communications Commission said June 11.
Chunghwa Telecom, based in Taipei, is also in talks with Google Inc.'s YouTube to offer video-sharing services on wireless devices, Shih said. Offering WiMax connections may help Chunghwa bolster sales from high-speed services such as mobile gaming and video-sharing.
"Wireless video-sharing services require faster networks that allow users to upload their own data," Shih said at the CommunicAsia telecommunications trade show.
Chunghwa Telecom, which has an exclusive agreement to offer Google's search engine on mobile phones in Taiwan, may share advertising revenue with YouTube from the possible partnership, he said.
Chairman Ho-Chen Tan held discussions with YouTube executives last week, Shih said.
Chunghwa also plans to offer mobile phone services based on faster high-speed uplink packet access, or HSUPA, technology in the first quarter of next year, Shih said.
HSUPA allows mobile-phone users to send data to the network as much as 15 times faster than high-speed downlink packet access, or HSDPA, according to the Web site of the Global Mobile Suppliers Association. Chunghwa currently uses HSDPA.