Chunghwa Telecom appoints Shui-Yi Kuo as new chaiarman

Chunghwa Telecom Co., Ltd., announced the appointment of President Mr. Shui-Yi Kuo as the new Chairman, succeeding Mr. Chi-Mau Sheih, effective May 5, 2023. The appointment was passed by the Board of Directors in an extraordinary board meeting held today.

Mr. Kuo has extensive experience; since joining Chunghwa Telecom, he has served in various leadership positions including Chief Financial Officer and President.

Chairman Kuo shared his four ABC strategies, four values and three visions developed under the current internal and external context and learned from the predecessors in the telecom industry and world-class enterprises and leaders in the handover ceremony held right after the extraordinary board meeting.

According to Chairman Kuo, the company’s mission, based on its four ABC assets meaning the partner asset, technology platform, infrastructure asset and talent asset, is to build trustworthy digital ecosystems to enable individuals, families, governments, enterprise customers and international customers to create values for customers, strategic partners, shareholders and employees. Chairman Kuo also pledged to lead the company forward based on the company’s “Always Ahead” spirit and a shared value system comprised of integrity, customers’ trust, creation of value and innovation, commitment to accountability.

In fact, Chunghwa Telecom just delivered its five-year high performance in 2022, building on its “Rise on together 2021” strategic transformation and the successful organization transformation. Chairman Kuo said the company will not stop its step toward transformation and will keep pursuing transcendence. He presented three visions for the company to incubate the next growth engine: to become the international benchmark based on ESG goals; to become a leading brand of digital ecosystem enablers; and to become a top high-tech company with market value far beyond 100 million.

Chairman Kuo also elaborated his vision and concrete goals for sustainable development in the three dimensions of ESG at the ceremony. In terms of sustainable environment, Chunghwa Telecom will actively follow and meet international ESG frameworks and initiatives, make concrete commitments and plan the roadmap to achieve net-zero with targets of halving carbon emissions and adopting renewable energy for all IDCs by 2030, adopting renewable energy for the whole company by 2040, achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and collaborating with customers and strategic partners in the supply chain to achieve these goals together. In terms of sustainable society, Chairman Kuo declared the goal of building a digital ecosystem co-creation system, hoping to assist people to upgrade and enjoy a smart life, empower industries to create a digital economy, help government to create smart governance including strengthening national critical infrastructure network and enhancing cybersecurity, and actively respond to gender equality advocacy, with a long-term evolution goal of creating a diverse, inclusive, and harmonious workplace. In terms of sustainable governance, Chunghwa Telecom will continue to strengthen the competence of the Board and elevate its functional committees, such as sustainability committee and risk management committee, to the level of board functional committees, while increasing the participation of board of directors. Chairman Kuo commented, “No ESG, no order; No ESG, no money; No ESG, no future,” that is way Chunghwa Telecom will continue to affirm our pursuit of sustainability and do the utmost to contribute to our earth.

In terms of business development, Chairmen Kuo proposed “Three Principles of Management, Three Fleets of Business, and Three Keys of Technologies” for everyone to work together. The “Three Principles of Management” include customer trust, cross-group collaboration, and broad alliance building. The “Three Fleets of Business” refer to the three major business groups including Consumer Business Group, Enterprise Business Group, and International Business Group. The “Three Keys of Technologies” represent the needs to build a talent pool, a technology repository, and a standard blueprint.

Among them, the “Three Fleets/Arrows” highlights the development focuses on our three major business groups with specific expectations and goals. Chairman Kuo said, “We will prioritize focusing on the four major aspects of safety, convenience, health, and entertainment for individuals and families, and expand our operations and investments in potential emerging services such as film and television, games, and sports, and utilize government tax incentives to let all kinds of exciting service content race on the high-speed broadband highway. In the enterprise market, we will prioritize the three emerging 10 billion-dollar businesses of cloud, cybersecurity, and AIoT applications. In terms of international layout, we will strive to bring the world to Taiwan, including assisting international OTT and global enterprises to land in and prioritizing investment in Taiwan. We will also step out of Taiwan into the world, basing in Taiwan, by assisting Taiwan’s multinational giants to operate in global markets, and market Taiwan’s intelligent applications to the international stage.”

In addition, to expand our business and service scope, Chairman Kuo pointed out that Chunghwa Telecom will actively carry out strategic investment and encourage subsidiaries and affiliates to propose their initial public offerings. Chunghwa Telecom will also actively leverage its real estate assets to make the Chunghwa Fleet stronger.

In order to become a co-creator of the digital ecosystems, Chunghwa Telecom will continue to broadly build alliances and create mutual benefit and common prosperity. Chairman Kuo has given a new interpretation to the three letters that make up the English abbreviation for Chunghwa Telecom (CHT). He redefines CHT as “Collaborate Happiness Together!”, which echoes with the company’s slogan “Dancing Brilliantly with 5G, Co-creating the Future” and showcased the company’s commitment to collaboration and innovation.

Chairman Kuo concluded his speech with the emphasis on the importance of passing on the legacy. He expressed gratitude to the previous leaders of the company for the heritage and legacy they left, which contributed to the leading status of Today’s Chunghwa Telecom. The company’s logo is comprised of two Cs, referring to Communication and Connectivity, which illustrates the business scope and value of the company; ” Communicating affection among people, connecting hearts in the world” explains the true essence of communication; and “Taking communication as our career, serving with enthusiasm, and having the sense of pride in quality” demonstrates the company’s shared philosophy of delivering service and values, which all unite Chunghwa Telecom toward the same direction. Mr. Kuo pledged to continue inheriting the wisdom and experience of the predecessors and leading the company “Always Ahead”.

CT Bureau