Chunghwa Telecom and NTT Win Glotel Awards for Digital Infrastructure Innovation, IOWN All-Photonics Network Recognized for Advancing Next-Generation Communications

Rhea-AI Summary

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) and NTT won the Digital Infrastructure Innovation award at the 2025 Glotel Awards for their joint IOWN All-Photonics Network (APN).

The collaboration moved from testing to full cross-border implementation in 2024, linking Taiwan and Japan with 100 Gbps optical transmission across about 3,000 km and achieving an industry-leading 17 ms latency. The partners demonstrated real-world use cases at Expo 2025 Osaka (synchronized CHO-KABUKI and Guan Jiang Shou performance) and at NTT R&D Forum 2025 (cross-border distributed AI data center using Japan-based GPU nodes).

Chunghwa Telecom and NTT plan to continue contributions to the IOWN Global Forum and promote wider APN adoption.

Positive

• 100 Gbps optical link across ~3,000 km
• Industry-leading cross-border latency of 17 ms
• Successful cross-border distributed AI demo using Japan-based GPU compute
• Won Glotel Awards Digital Infrastructure Innovation recognition

Negative

• None.

TAIPEI, Dec. 15, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Chunghwa Telecom announced that its joint submission with NTT for the world's first IOWN All-Photonics Network (APN) has been honored with the Digital Infrastructure Innovation award at the 2025 Glotel Awards, organized by Telecoms.com. Amidst a highly competitive field of leading international ICT companies, the Taiwan–Japan collaboration stood out for its groundbreaking achievements. Chunghwa Telecom is the only telecom operator from Taiwan recognized this year, and together with NTT, received strong affirmation from the international judging panel, demonstrating the combined capability of both companies to shape the future of next-generation communications.

The Glotel Awards are among the most recognized honors in the global telecom and technology industry, celebrating outstanding innovation and digital transformation achievements. According to the judges, competition in this year's Digital Infrastructure Innovation category was particularly intense. The IOWN APN impressed with its technical breakthroughs, architectural innovation, cross-border collaboration and real-world applicability, setting a new benchmark for the evolution of global digital infrastructure.

To address the rising global demand for ultra-high speed, low-latency and energy-efficient communications, Chunghwa Telecom and NTT advanced their IOWN collaboration from testing and verification to full cross-border implementation. In 2024, the two companies launched the world's first international APN, connecting Taiwan and Japan with 100 Gbps optical transmission over a distance of about 3,000 kilometers. The network achieved an industry-leading low latency of just 17 milliseconds, overcoming long-standing limitations of traditional cross-border connectivity and demonstrating the transformative potential of all-photonic architecture.

After reaching this significant technical milestone, the two companies accelerated real-world demonstrations of cross-border applications. At Expo 2025 in Osaka, Chunghwa Telecom and NTT presented a synchronized performance featuring CHO-KABUKI powered by IOWN and Guan Jiang Shou, a traditional Taiwanese folk ritual performance, linking stages in Taipei and Osaka through the IOWN APN to deliver an immersive, real-time interactive experience for audiences in both locations. Additionally, at the NTT R&D Forum 2025, Chunghwa Telecom and its Taiwan–Japan partners showcased a cross-border distributed AI data center. By integrating APN with disaggregated computing, the demonstration connected data centers in both countries, using Japan-based GPU resources as an AI computation node. Taiwan-side training and inference tasks were successfully supported via APN transmission, validating the feasibility of cross-border distributed AI computing for high-performance workloads.

Chih-Cheng Chien, Chairman and CEO of Chunghwa Telecom, emphasized that receiving the Glotel Awards' Digital Infrastructure Innovation honor represents a major recognition of the innovation achieved through its collaboration with NTT, and marks a key milestone in advancing next-generation networking technologies. Looking ahead, Chunghwa Telecom and NTT will continue contributing to the IOWN Global Forum, promoting open standards and ecosystem development, while deepening cooperation with international partners. The two companies aim to accelerate global adoption of IOWN APN technology and build a resilient, sustainable next-generation digital infrastructure to empower future smart applications and industry transformation.

Esther Chen
esther@cht.com.tw
+886-2-2344-3165

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SOURCE Chunghwa Telecom

FAQ

What did Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) and NTT win at the 2025 Glotel Awards?

They won the Digital Infrastructure Innovation award for the IOWN All-Photonics Network.

What are the technical specs of the CHT–NTT cross-border APN implemented in 2024?

The APN connected Taiwan and Japan with 100 Gbps optical transmission over ~3,000 km and achieved 17 ms latency.

How did the IOWN APN demonstration support cross-border AI for CHT (CHT)?

A cross-border distributed AI demo used Japan-based GPU resources as compute nodes, supporting Taiwan-side training and inference over APN.

When and where did Chunghwa Telecom and NTT demonstrate IOWN APN live applications?

They showcased synchronized performances at Expo 2025 Osaka and a distributed AI demo at the NTT R&D Forum 2025.

What is the investor relevance of the CHT–NTT IOWN APN award for Chunghwa Telecom (CHT)?

The award signals industry recognition of CHT's cross-border APN technical milestones and real-world application potential.