Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom and Multimedia On Demand

In Taiwan, Chungwha Telecom's Multimedia On Demand (MOD) Phase 2 is said to be the biggest commercial IPTV deployment for broadcast TV and VOD in the Asia-Pacific to date and is expected to add 300,000 subscribers to its service in 2005.

About Chunghwa Telecom

Chunghwa Telecom is the largest integrated telecommunication operator in Taiwan. CHT completed its corporatization on 1 July 1996 under the direction of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications according to the Telecommunication Act and Memorandum of Chunghwa Telecom Corporation. Incorporated with a registered capital at NT$96.477 billion, CHT chiefly provides telecommunication and information-related services.

Its scope of services covers city call, long-distance calls, international calls, GSM, data communication, Internet services, broadband networking, satellite communication, intelligent network, mobile data and multimedia broadband.

As the most experienced and largest integrated telecommunication operator in Taiwan, CHT is one of the most important partners for international telecommunication cooperation, with distinctive achievements in promoting global real-time communication, improvement social life, and enhancing economic efficiency.

With approximately three million DSL subscribers, the company is well positioned to offer IP-based services such as broadcast TV, Video-on-Demand, Karaoke-on-Demand, and Home Banking & Commerce.

Chungwha Multimedia On Demand Service 

Chungwha Telecom's Multimedia On Demand (MOD) Phase 2 is said to be the biggest commercial IPTV deployment for broadcast TV and VOD in the Asia-Pacific to date and is expected to add 300,000 subscribers to its service in 2005.

In January 2005, Alcatel announced that  Chunghwa Telecom  had gone live with phase 2 of its Multimedia On Demand (MOD) service offering. After the contract was awarded to Alcatel in 2004, Chunghwa Telecom announced the extension of its MOD service today to the northern part of the island including Tao Yuan, I Lan and Hsinchu areas.

This is one of the largest production deployments using the Alcatel Open Media Suite, and marks the biggest commercial IPTV deployment for broadcast TV and Video on Demand in the Asia Pacific region using a commercial application platform

"With Alcatel's Open Media Suite we have the ability to strengthen our leadership position in the telecom industry in Taiwan. Phase 2 of the MOD service is expected to gain us 300,000 more subscribers in 2005. We are planning to gradually extend the service to the central and southern part of Taiwan in the first half year," said Mr Ho-Chan Tan, Chairman, Chunghwa Telecom. "Moving into the video space allows us to investigate new and interesting service offerings to retain and grow our customer base."

"Alcatel has long been a key contributor to the development of broadband in Taiwan. Leveraging on our 1.26 million DSL lines at Chunghwa Telecom, we have deployed our proven Open Media Suite to support the enhancement of its MOD service, representing a step further towards building a user-centric broadband world in Taiwan." said Ivan Verbesselt, vice president of Alcatel's Information, Communication, and Entertainment business activity.

For more information please visit http://www.alcatel.com or http://www.chungwha.com