The National Communications Committee (NCC) released a list yesterday of eight candidates who had qualified for the second round of bidding for Worldwide Inter-operability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) operating licenses.
The successful candidates include Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信), Far EasTone Telecom Co (遠傳電信), Taiwan Digital Communication Corp (台信聯合電訊), Vastar Cable TV System Corp (威達有線電視), Global On Corp (創一投資), Tatung Co (
"We are 100 percent sure we will win a license as we are offering to pay the government more than 10 percent of our revenues from future WiMAX operations," president Charlie Wu (
Yesterday's offer was much higher than the annual floor rate of 1.5 percent set by the NCC. The rate paid for use of the nation's radio spectrum will be the deciding factor in the final round of bidding.
With high-speed WiMAX services, First International Telecom -- the nation's sole short-range PHS operator -- would be able to compete with local mobile operators using third-generation (3G) technology, Wu said.
The eight candidates will bid for six operating licenses on July 26. The bidding rules dictate that three operating licenses be issued to the northern region and three to the south.
Chunghwa, Far EasTone, Taiwan Digital, Tatung and the Vibo-Tecom team have applied for WiMAX licenses in both regions. Vastar has only applied for a license in the south, while Global On and First International only applied for licenses in the north.
Wu said that in the initial stage, the company planned to invest up to NT$4 billion (US$121.5 million) building its WiMAX network in northern Taiwan.
To fund the new business, the company has been in talks with several foreign companies including Intel Corp's venture company Intel Capital.
"We could sell a stake by issuing new shares," Wu said, adding that the company aimed to raise NT$2 billion from the share sale.
Companies that failed to qualify included Won Won Infocomm Co (
Won Won protested the result, saying that news the five companies would fail to qualify had been leaked to the industry.
In response, NCC spokesperson Howard Shyr (
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (
Tien told a press conference that the issuance should be postponed as the system has met with opposition in Sweden, Germany and in San Francisco.
Taiwan Environmental Protection Union chairwoman Chen Jiau-hua (
Regulations in Austria, however, state that the safe limit is 1 microwatt per square meter, she said.
Chen threatened to stage a hunger strike with people who suffer from electromagnetic waves should the NCC fail to take the public's health into consideration while deciding to issue WiMAX licenses.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by