Print

Mail

wiki links

3G pioneer still hopes to break even

Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications Inc (亞太行動寬頻), the nation's first three-generation (3G) mobile operator, said it hoped to get into the black early next year, helped partly by better cost efficiency through internal resource integration, a company executive said yesterday.

"With the help of resource integration and improving 3G coverage, we expect Asia Pacific to break even in the first quarter of next year," chairman Wang Lin-tai (王令台) said.

Asia Pacific Broadband Wireless Communications is expecting to achieve a 10 percent to 15 percent cost reduction from ongoing restructuring efforts involving its parent company Eastern Broadband Telecom Co (東森寬頻), a fixed-line telecom carrier, and Asia Pacific Online Services Inc (亞太線上), an Internet service provider.

Wang declined to reveal the specific reductions, only said the three companies will have a total of NT$14.7 billion in revenue this year. He did not provide comparative figures of last year.

Wang made the remarks during a press conference announcing the inclusion of three companies into the Asia Pacific Telecom Group (亞太電信集團) umbrella.

Eastern Broadband has been renamed Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網), a change that took effect this month.

A steering committee led by Wang was formed yesterday to take charge of the group's integration in marketing, Internet engineering and strategy, Wang said.

"The restructuring will help Asia Pacific reduce costs, but the effect will be minimal. I still believe that the company will have a rough road ahead to try and turn itself around," said Chris Tan (譚志忠), a telecom analyst with Yuanta Core Pacific capital Management (元大京華投顧).

"Spotty coverage is one of major hurdles the 3G pioneer has to overcome to convince users to switch from 2.5G mobile operators led by state-run Chunghwa Tele-com Co (中華電信)," Tan said.

The state-owned phone company has said that it plans to launch its 3G service in the third quarter.

Private-sector competitors Tai-wan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大) and Far EasTone Telecommunications Co, however, are taking a wait-and-see attitude.

After a year of operation, Asia Pacific has only attracted 300,000 subscribers for its 3G services, far less than its target of getting 700,000 users in the first five months.

Asia Pacific's 3G service debuted in late July last year.

To expand its coverage to remote areas, Asia Pacific plans to pour between NT$2 billion and NT$3 billion into base station deployment within the next year, Wang said.

He refused to reveal how many base stations the company has. At the service launch last July, the company said it had already set up 600 base stations.

Asia Pacific is scheduled to offer two to three new handsets at affordable prices during the rest of the year in a bid to expand its customer base including one high-end cellphone from Samsung Electronics Co.

The company yesterday said it aims to boost its subscriber list to as many as 550,000 people by the year-end now that users have a wider selection of handsets and affordable fixed-price packages.
This story has been viewed 2707 times.