One of the nation's third-generation (3G) service operators was criticized yesterday by the Consumers' Foundation (消基會) for poor service and reception.
The foundation said it received 20 complaints filed by subscribers to Vibo Telecom Inc (
The consumers' discontent came as a setback for Vibo, which has been aggressively promoting its 3G service.
It was the first telecom operator to launch the service -- which allows faster Internet connection and video viewing than the current 2G -- last December.
"Consumers should adopt a `wait-and-see' attitude on the service before they loosen their purse strings for 3G," foundation chairman Jason Lee (
The foundation received several complaints from users of Vibo who found themselves with no network coverage in certain areas, or who had experienced poor connections at times, or had their lines cut off if bills were running much higher than usual.
Some consumers had been granted a decrease in monthly rate plans after contacting Vibo, but they will have to pay compensation of as much as NT$9,000 (US$273) for "breach of contract" if they decide to terminate their subscription early, it said.
The foundation said it had yet to receive complaints about other 3G service operators, like Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大).
"The cases highlighted by the Consumers' Foundation are case-by-case issues and we will resolve them and try to meet users' demands," said Vivian Lin (
According to Lin, the company is trying to beef up network reception, as there are some dead corners with no signals.
Vibo claims it has more comprehensive 3G coverage than any of its competitors. It was constantly seeking to increase its coverage, she said.
Vibo currently has more than 300,000 subscribers from a target of 750,000 for the year. The annual figure was trimmed down from an earlier target of 1 million.
Chunghwa Telecom said last month that it had 520,000 3G subscribers, but only 31.5 percent of them own a 3G handset and qualify as active users. The company said the total figure will rise to 800,000 by year's end.
Nvidia Corp earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from start-ups to Microsoft Corp, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet Inc. Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than 4 million global developers rely on Nvidia’s CUDA software platform to build AI and other apps. Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm Inc, Google and Intel Corp plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going
DECOUPLING? In a sign of deeper US-China technology decoupling, Apple has held initial talks about using Baidu’s generative AI technology in its iPhones, the Wall Street Journal said China has introduced guidelines to phase out US microprocessors from Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) from government PCs and servers, the Financial Times reported yesterday. The procurement guidance also seeks to sideline Microsoft Corp’s Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic options, the report said. Chinese officials have begun following the guidelines, which were unveiled in December last year, the report said. They order government agencies above the township level to include criteria requiring “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems when making purchases, the newspaper said. The US has been aiming to boost domestic semiconductor
ENERGY IMPACT: The electricity rate hike is expected to add about NT$4 billion to TSMC’s electricity bill a year and cut its annual earnings per share by about NT$0.154 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has left its long-term gross margin target unchanged despite the government deciding on Friday to raise electricity rates. One of the heaviest power consuming manufacturers in Taiwan, TSMC said it always respects the government’s energy policy and would continue to operate its fabs by making efforts in energy conservation. The chipmaker said it has left a long-term goal of more than 53 percent in gross margin unchanged. The Ministry of Economic Affairs concluded a power rate evaluation meeting on Friday, announcing electricity tariffs would go up by 11 percent on average to about NT$3.4518 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
OPENING ADDRESS: The CEO is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing and artificial intelligence at the trade show’s opening on June 3, TAITRA said Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) chairperson and chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) is to deliver the opening keynote speech at Computex Taipei this year, the event’s organizer said in a statement yesterday. Su is to give a speech on the future of high-performance computing (HPC) in the artificial intelligence (AI) era to open Computex, one of the world’s largest computer and technology trade events, at 9:30am on June 3, the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) said. Su is to explore how AMD and the company’s strategic technology partners are pushing the limits of AI and HPC, from data centers to