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WiMAX hopefuls present their plans

Representatives from 13 companies that have applied for an operating license for the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology attended interviews at the National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday.

"My team is very confident about qualifying [for a license] because we have developed many products and services for WiMAX technology," Tecom Co (東訊科技) chairman Liu Chao-kai (劉兆凱) who represented a joint venture formed by Vibo Telecom (威寶電信) and Tecom, told reporters after his interview. The interviews began at 8am yesterday and were scheduled to end at 10:25pm.

"As a seasoned player in the telecommunications industry, we believe we are capable of running a [WiMAX] business," he said.

The Vibo-Tecom team were joined at the NCC by home appliance maker Tatung Co (大同), the nation's biggest telecoms operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Far EasTone Telecom Co (遠傳電信), Taiwan Digital Communications Corp (台信聯合電訊) and Won Won Infocomm Co (旺旺電通) in the competition for WiMAX licenses in both the north and south of the country.

First International Telecom Corp (大眾電信), Global On Corp (創一投資) and Pan Overseas Corp (匯僑) applied for a license only in the north.

Chunghwa Wideband Best Network Co (中華聯網寬頻), Asia Pacific Broadband Telecom Co (亞太固網), Vastar Cable TV System Corp (威達有線電視) and Ubiquitous Mobile Multimedia Inc (寰宇通) will compete for a license only in the south.

Former chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard Taiwan Rosemary Ho (何薇玲), now representing Global On Corp, said her team's presentation focused on the firm's potential to work with other key players in the market.

"The nation's WiMAX industry has faced several challenges, and the first are the technical issues, which can hardly be solved by Taiwanese firms alone," she said.

Ho noted that another challenge is to integrate telecommunications, content and the Internet.

She said integration would be "a challenge to many companies," and the ideal scenario is to seek the best partners.

The interviews accounted for 20 percent of the NCC's scoring system. The remaining 80 percent of the score is allocated based on the operational plans the team's had previously submitted to the commission.

The review committee, consisting of both NCC members and telecommunications specialists, were estimated to finish their review by 2am this morning.

While media reports had indicated the NCC was scheduled to release a list of qualified candidates for the second-round of the bidding process today, the NCC said yesterday that the list would be unveiled "soon" after all the procedures were completed.

In the second-round of the review process, each qualified company will be asked how much they are willing to pay for the use of the nation's radio spectrum that is to be allocated to WiMAX operators. The fee must be at least 1.5 percent of the company's future annual revenues from its WiMAX operations.

The second-round of the review process is expected to be scheduled by the end of this month, the commission said.
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