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Chunghwa Telecom in WiMAX investment

Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) said it has invested NT$168 million (US$5.16 million) in Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) license holder Global Mobile Corp (全球一動) in its bid to be able to offer high-speed wireless services.

With the investment, Chunghwa Telecom holds about a 14.5 percent stake in Global Mobile, company spokesman Joseph Shieh (謝劍平) said yesterday.

"This is a pre-emptive action as it is uncertain whether the government will issue additional WiMAX licenses in 2009 as planned," Shieh said.

Chunghwa Telecom said it wanted to make sure it would have a share of the nation's WiMAX market and then look to expand overseas in the future.

The nation's major telecom players, Chunghwa Telecom and Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大), failed to win WiMAX licenses in July's auction.

Global Mobile said yesterday that it had obtained fresh capital from new shareholders, meeting the deadline set for operators to increase their capital to the NT$1 billion target.

Following its fund-raising program, Global Mobile now has around NT$1.13 billion in capital, compared to NT$1.14 million when the company was registered in June.

The firm's new shareholders came from various sectors that have links to the WiMAX industry, including wireless telecom equipment maker D-Link Corp (友訊科技) and communications chipmaker Davicom Semiconductor Inc (聯傑國際), Global Mobile said.

Global Mobile plans to use the money to build a WiMAX network, which must be to rolled out by the end of next year as required by the National Communications Commission (NCC).

Global Mobile also plans to launch a second fund-raising program in 2009 to boost its capital to NT$5 billion. The company said it would first encourage existing shareholders to increase their investments.

Separately, Chunghwa Telecom said yesterday it is working with local film distributor Deltamac Co (德利影視) to enrich its content portfolio for its paid TV business.

Deltamac plans to air films from major film producers in the US, including Taiwanese director Ang Lee's (李安) "Lust, Caution" (色 , 戒) in the third quarter of next year.

Customers are being charged NT$50 to NT$70 per film.
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