The merger between Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) and KG Telecommunications Co (和信電訊) Tuesday will bring in more competition in the nation's telecom sector, market watchers said.
The proposed merger between the nation's third and fourth largest telecom operators will also speed up the introduction of high-speed wireless mobile phone -- also known as third generation (3G) -- services here, they added.
"Service is absolutely the key for telecom operators to expand market share," said Gary Lai (
The combination of Far EasTone and KG Telecom will create the nation's second-largest mobile-phone carrier after Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大), and ahead of state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信).
Far EasTone is banking on the merger to establish a close partnership with NTT DoCoMo Inc of Japan, which is a minority stakeholder in KG Telecom and will own 4.9 percent of the combined company. The transaction is expected to be closed by March next year.
"This relationship will add tremendous value to our multimedia mobile services and future 3G related developments," Far EasTone chairman Douglas Hsu (
The deal also benefits DoCoMo, as the agreement provides the Tokyo-based company with a local partner that has a license to provide 3G services in Taiwan, the analyst said.
"DoCoMo has been longing to promote its service, especially the `i-mode' multimedia mobile data service, to Taiwan ... That's why it was keen to push KG Telecom so hard to team up with larger partners like Far EasTone," Lai said.
DoCoMo yesterday also gave a green light to the merger. In a statement on its Web site, the company said it has concluded a memorandum of understanding with Far EasTone to collaborate on the W-CDMA third generation and i-mode mobile phone businesses in Taiwan.
KG Telecom, in which DoCoMo currently holds a 21.4 percent stake, introduced i-mode services in June last year. I-mode allows users to browse the Internet, exchange e-mail and download applications via i-mode handsets. Currently, there are 150,000 i-mode subscribers in Taiwan, the company said.
The agreement will also pave the way for more 3G services to be introduced from DoCoMo in the future, Lai said, saying that DoCoMo launched its FOMA, or Freedom of Mobile multimedia Access, 3G service last week in Japan, which features a downloading speed of 384kbps, and an uploading speed of 64kbps.
Alex Wu (
"These services, namely 3G service, should be strong enough to persuade consumers into going through the hassles of switching their phone numbers," Wu said.
But the Far EasTone's 3G timetable is yet to be fully worked out, as the acceptability of 3G services by Taiwanese consumers is still low, analysts said. Companies need to educate consumers by explaining the benefits of 3G, they added.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
It is challenging to build infrastructure in much of Europe. Constrained budgets and polarized politics tend to undermine long-term projects, forcing officials to react to emergencies rather than plan for the future. Not in Austria. Today, the country is to officially open its Koralmbahn tunnel, the 5.9 billion euro (US$6.9 billion) centerpiece of a groundbreaking new railway that will eventually run from Poland’s Baltic coast to the Adriatic Sea, transforming travel within Austria and positioning the Alpine nation at the forefront of logistics in Europe. “It is Austria’s biggest socio-economic experiment in over a century,” said Eric Kirschner, an economist at Graz-based Joanneum
OPTION: Uber said it could provide higher pay for batch trips, if incentives for batching is not removed entirely, as the latter would force it to pass on the costs to consumers Uber Technologies Inc yesterday warned that proposed restrictions on batching orders and minimum wages could prompt a NT$20 delivery fee increase in Taiwan, as lower efficiency would drive up costs. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made the remarks yesterday during his visit to Taiwan. He is on a multileg trip to the region, which includes stops in South Korea and Japan. His visit coincided the release last month of the Ministry of Labor’s draft bill on the delivery sector, which aims to safeguard delivery workers’ rights and improve their welfare. The ministry set the minimum pay for local food delivery drivers at
RSS