The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) inked major agreements with three foreign companies yesterday, paving the way for the establishment of a research and development center and a testing center in line with the government's aim of developing WiMAX-related equipment and wireless devices through a NT$7 billion (US$210 million) program called "M-Taiwan."
The ministry signed a memorandum of understanding with Japan's NEC Corp to set up a next-generation wireless broadband, or WiMAX, research and development center this year.
The R&D center would be open to local equipment vendors to enable them to perform interoperability tests and to support service providers and software vendors in the development and verification of application services, NEC said yesterday, adding that the center should be set up within the next year.
PHOTO: CNA
NEC said it is also working with Taiwanese home appliances manufacturer Tatung Co (
The Japanese company has helped Tatung conduct trials of Internet access and video streaming in Hualien on WiMAX equipment.
NEC bought US$3.8 billion worth of electronics products from Taiwanese companies last year, putting it among the top 10 foreign purchasers from local firms, the ministry's data showed.
The ministry also signed agreements with Canadian telecom equipment supplier Nortel and German electronics firm Rohde and Schwarz (R&S) to set up a laboratory to develop and test all types of WiMAX technologies and applications and to boost cooperation between the companies and local firms in developing WiMAX technologies and WiMAX-enabled devices.
"The agreements will promote cooperation between Nortel, NEC and R&S and local network and communications manufacturers and pave the way for Taiwan to establish a state-of-the-art WiMAX wireless broadband network, helping to raise the global competitiveness of Taiwan in the WiMAX industry," Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (
Overall investment by local companies on WiMAX-related equipment and research and development may reach NT$80 billion in the next few years, Chen said.
Taiwan's WiMAX trial center has been approved by the WiMAX Forum, making it the fourth country in the world to have such a laboratory, the ministry said.
The WiMAX Forum, set up in June 2001, is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the mobile WiMAX technology.
The first round of applications for six WiMAX licenses will close on June 11, and selected firms will take part in an auction for the permits in July, National Communications Commission (NCC) chairman Su Yeong-chin (蘇永欽) said yesterday on the sidelines of an industry event yesterday.
"Fourteen companies have come in for a briefing with the commission and have shown interest in getting a license," Su said.
Bidders will pledge a percentage of their annual sales from WiMAX rather than pay a flat fee for the licenses, said Wang Der-wei, a senior engineer at the commission's planning department.
Winning bidders will be those that offer the highest share of revenue, he said.
Wang said the government will award three licenses each for north and south Taiwan in July, with one license in each region reserved for a new entrant to the telecommunications market.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
Cairo’s new monorail slices across the city skyline, running above the familiar chaos of blaring horns and aging buses’ exhaust fumes that mark rush hour below. The US$4.5 billion monorail, opened this month, is among Egypt’s most prominent new transport projects, part of a debt-funded infrastructure drive criticized for sapping state finances while bringing limited benefits to most of the country’s 109 million people. “It feels like you’re in a different country,” said Ramy Sayed, a restaurant manager, aboard a driverless Innovia 300 train. “No noise, no traffic, we’re not used to this.” The eastern line runs 56km from the bustling middle-class
Starlux Airlines Co (星宇航空) today unveiled a long-haul network expansion plan at a shareholders’ meeting in Taipei, including direct flights to Barcelona, Spain, and Zurich, Switzerland, as well as a service connecting Taipei, Sydney and New Zealand. Starlux is to become the first Taiwanese carrier to offer non-stop services to the two European cities, while the inaugural oceanic route is expected to expand transit opportunities within the Australia-New Zealand market, Starlux said. Flight services to Chicago, Dallas, Washington and New York are under evaluation, the airline added. Prior to the shareholders’ meeting, the airline earlier this year announced that it would be
Taiwanese firms have increased investment in the Philippines in recent years as Manila’s ties with Washington deepen and global supply chains continue to shift away from China, an expert at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The Philippines had not been among Taiwanese investors’ top choices in Southeast Asia, CIER Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center director Kristy Hsu (徐遵慈) said at a seminar in Taipei. However, Taiwan’s investment in the country has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching US $257 million last year, a high in recent years, she said. Although Taiwan’s total investment in the Philippines still lags
Intel Corp regards Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) as a longstanding partner, as the US chipmaker would continue outsourcing production of advanced chips to TSMC, Intel chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) said yesterday. “I don’t look at people as competitors. I look at the collaboration... Nvidia is also, you know, a good friend,” Tan told a news conference following his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei. “It’s a very trusted partnership for us... We are a big, top customer for them, and we’re going to continue doing that,” he said, referring to TSMC, the world’s largest foundry
RSS