21 Business Strategy  of up to 21 Mbps. Our investment in network infrastructure places us in a position to capture a significant share of the internet and  high-speed data transmission market.  Research and development expertise.  As of March 31, 2012, we employ over 2,213 research professionals and engineers  whose principal focus is to develop advanced network services and operations support systems and to build selected core  technologies. In 2011, our research and development expenses accounted for 1.6% of our revenues under R.O.C. GAAP. We believe  our focus on research and development will allow us to efficiently develop and deploy new technologies and services ahead of our  competitors.  Taiwan has one of the highest fixed line penetration rates in Asia and has also experienced rapid adoption of wireless  communications and internet services, including broadband access services. We believe that telecommunications services will evolve  over the coming years, driven by a number of technological innovations, including cloud computing, mobile value-added services and  Internet of Things. We also believe that the convergence trend of communications technologies will provide a significant competitive  advantage to integrated telecommunications service providers that are able to design and construct sophisticated and scalable  networks capable of serving as a common platform for a broad range of services.  Our key strategic objectives are to maintain our position as a leading integrated telecommunications services provider  in Taiwan and to enhance our leadership position in growing markets, such as the mobile services and internet services markets,  including fixed/mobile broadband access services and value-added services.  Consistent with our strategic objectives, we have developed the following business strategies:  Our core strengths are the management of telecommunication networks and the provision of services over these networks. We  currently operate several networks linked by a core backbone infrastructure consisting of public switched telephone, cellular, ADSL,  FTTx and internet protocol networks. Our strategy for each network differs depending on the market dynamics and future growth  prospects of services delivered over these networks. In general, we endeavor to maintain our strong market position in each of our  business lines and seek to expand the scope of our business beyond network services by offering value-added services to generate  growth and new opportunities.  Fixed communications : Our strategy is to maintain our position as the market leader in domestic fixed communications. In  addition to our Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN, we are working on NGN projects to facilitate network migration  into IP Multimedia Subsystem, or IMS. The first stage of our IMS network was completed in March 2009. This is the largest ever  NGN deployment that has been constructed in Taiwan, with more than 500,000 subscriber facilities. As of December 31, 2011, the  IMS network capacity has been expanded to nearly one million subscribers. To enhance business efficiency and reduce operational  expenditures, we constructed a new Multi-Protocol Label Switching-, or MPLS-, based IP backbone to consolidate existing IP  networks in September 2008. Based on these facilities, we will collaborate with the third parties to develop new integrated services  to retain our customers and generate new revenue streams. For provision of new services, we launched our multimedia value- added services in October 2010. These services include provision of home-based surveillance cameras and daily life information,  entertainment and phone services.  Broadband services : We also plan to continue to build on the success of our broadband access services.  ●  We provided ADSL and FTTx services to 4.5 million customers, which represented more than 79.2% of Taiwan’s fixed line  broadband customers by the end of 2011. We have successfully migrated many of our customers from low-speed to higher- speed internet access services and upgraded ADSL subscribers to FTTx, which offers an even higher speeds by using fiber  optic technology. Approximately 87% of our broadband customers subscribe for downlink speeds of over 2 Mbps, and 53%  were with FTTx as of December 31, 2011.  P AR T I Focus on our core strengths while expanding our scope of services to capture new growth opportunities 