State-run Chunghwa Telecom Co's (
Chunghwa's agreement with three fixed-line operators will apply only to profitless voice services, and the lease will be limited to Taipei, Taichung and Kaohsiung, the company said.
"This partial opening repre-sents only a small advance toward a more liberal telco market because the terms have made it difficult for local fixed-line carriers to rapidly expand market share," said Tony Tsai (蔡東松), an analyst with Taiwan Ratings Corp (中華信評), a local unit of Standard and Poor's Rating Services.
Chunghwa's high levy on local loop-phone connection was one of these, Tsai said.
Local fixed-line phone companies will have to pay NT$3,500 per subscriber plus a NT$200 line rental charged by Chunghwa each month, according to one fixed-line operator who requested anonymity.
The monthly rate for Chung-hwa's fixed-line residential users, however, is NT$75 per month, the operator added.
"I doubt this hefty spending will leave much room for private fixed-line carriers to vie for a bigger share of voice services," Tsai said.
In addition, fixed-line operators, including Taiwan Fixed Network Co (台灣固網), will be able to rent "last mile" connections only upon the request of customers who switch operators.
Without aggressive government intervention, Tsai said it would be difficult to see a breakthrough.
Lu Chia-lin (呂家霖), an analyst with Yuanta Core Pacific Securities (元大京華證券), was more optimistic.
"The fixed-lined phone companies at least have the opportunity to expand their services to residential users. Before this opening up, they could only offer services to corporate users because of concerns over cost," Lu said.
"We're very pessimistic about rapid expansion. It will be a tough battle to boost our fixed-line sign-ups," said Jessica Chou (
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in