Chunghwa Telecom Adds 73K IPTV Subscribers in 2Q08

Chunghwa Telecom, the incumbent carrier in Taiwan, added 73 thousand IPTV subscribers to its MOD service ending the quarter with 508 thousand.

Chunghwa stated that its coverage of the Olympics significantly increased the viewing of its IPTV service:

• The maximum number of households viewing its IPTV service increased by a factor of 1.6 compared to before the Games.
• IPTV video on demand views were 3.3 times higher and Internet page views were 11.3 times higher compared to before the Games.
• The number of video clips viewed, page views and traffic over its mobile portal “emome”
  were 15.8, 10, and 10 times times higher, respectively, compared to before the
  Games.

Chunghwa also added 148 thousand FTTB subscribers in the quarter, giving it a total about 800 thousand. It stated that 32.1 percent of its ADSL and FTTx subscribers have speeds greater than 8 Mbps.

Chunghwa continues to grow its IPTV service at a rate of at least 20o thousand new subscribers per year. Its Olympics experience shows the power of a big event in bringing viewers to the service.