Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan’s largest operator by subscribers, has predicted it will add over 200,000 new subscribers to its mobile Internet services in 2010 as demand rises for mobile broadband and smartphones, according to a report by Dow Jones Newswires. The report says the company expects its mobile Internet subscriber base to have more than doubled by the end of the year, growing to 370,000 from 160,000 at the end of 2008. “I believe this is the year mobile broadband will really take off,” said Mu-Piao Shih, president of Chunghwa’s mobile business group. Shih also said the company expects to sell around 390,000 smartphones this year, of which 240,000 will be bundled with contracts for the company’s mobile phone and broadband service plans. Dow Jones Newswires noted that he declined to disclose the number of smartphones sold so far this year, but said the company has sold almost 400,000 smartphones bundled with contracts since it started selling smartphones in 2006. 

According to Wireless Intelligence, Chunghwa had just over 9 million connections at the end of Q2 09. Its mobile Internet subscriber base therefore comprises a small but fast-growing share of its total customer base. Chunghwa is scheduled to launch HSPA+ technology in 2010 and plans to deploy LTE in the future.