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3G subscribers to increase
The number of subscribers of third-generation (3G) mobile services in the Asia-Pacific region are expected to jump to 142.6 million by 2009, with an annual growth rate of 68.5 percent over the next five years, market researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said yesterday in a statement.
In the region, 3G users reached 10.5 million last year.
By the end of 2009, 3G services would have penetrated more than 12 percent of total mobile subscribers in the region with South Korea leading at 63 percent, followed by Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore then Taiwan, IDC said.
By the time, Taiwan is expected to have nearly 4 million 3G subscribers, IDC predicted.
Taiwanese mobile operators, led by Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) are scheduled to unveil 3G services in the second half of this year, after Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) held a soft launch last month.

IT market's value grows
The value of Taiwan's information technology (IT) service market reached NT$58.1 billion (US$1.8 billion) last year, according to statistics compiled by IDC.
Tsao Yung-hui (曹永暉), a Taiwanese analyst at IDC, noted that the market for IT services in Taiwan has been fierce in the last few years, affected by slow economic growth, forcing local entrepreneurs to become more and more prudent in their purchase of information products and services.
Although the market for software maintenance is stable, profits are dropping, with the market for system integration in big enterprises almost saturated, Tsao added.
Despite this, Tsao predicted that IT service companies will enjoy a lucrative market by offering core system software, tools and applications for new banks in the next five years, with the banks' annual investment in this respect expected to total more than NT$10 billion.

Foreign reserves rise
The nation's foreign exchange reserves rose to a record US$253.17 billion at the end of last month, the central bank said yesterday.
Reserves totaled US$252.64 billion at the end of April and US$251.14 billion at the end of March, the central bank said.
The increase mainly reflected returns from foreign exchange reserve management, it added.

China investment approved
Taiwan has approved 14 applications for China-bound investment totaling US$178.75 million, the Investment Commission said.
The commission also approved four inbound investment applications by foreign investors and overseas Chinese for a total of US$76.35 million, it said in a statement late Thursday.
Of the applications for China-bound investment, Asia Cement Corp (亞泥) was given approval to invest US$33.16 million in a Jiangxi cement company and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) US$19 million in its Shanghai unit.
The commission said it has approved a total of 269 China-bound investment applications involving US$290.93 million between April 20 and May 23.

NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar had the biggest gain in five weeks against its US counterpart, rising NT$0.095 to close at NT$31.303, the largest gain since April 29 and the highest close since May 19, on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
The local currency rose 0.2 percent against the US dollar this week, the first gain in four. It was up 0.7 percent against the US dollar in the first quarter and rallied 7.1 percent in the fourth quarter.
The NT dollar also gained after foreign investors bought a net US$943.5 million of Taiwan's shares this week, the most since the five days to May 20.

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