SOCIAL WELFARE: In a 2006 report, the company said it had more than 400 hectares of idle land nationwide. As its revenue plunges, the revitalization move could help profits

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 24, 2018
By: Lisa Wang  /  Staff reporter

Chunghwa Telecom Co (CHT, 中華電信) yesterday said it plans to restart an asset rejuvenation program for a number of underutilized properties this year by converting them into social housing units.

The announcement represented a U-turn on the nation’s biggest telecom’s conservative stance over its idle properties at a time when the company is facing flagging revenue.

Chunghwa Telecom saw its revenue contract by 1.1 percent year-on-year to NT$227.55 billion (US$7.76 billion) last year, falling short of its estimate of NT$231 billion, attributable to a faster-than-expected decline in voice call services.

“Chunghwa Telecom owns immense assets with a big portion of them being underutilized for a long time. Those properties were only for telecom facilities in the past,” chairman David Cheng (鄭優) told a news conference yesterday.    [FULL  STORY]