Sun, Jul 13, 2008 page11

• Business Quick Take

  • AGENCIES
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  ■TELECOMS

  3G subscriptions on the rise

  The number of 3G mobile phone subscriptions in Taiwan has continued to increase rapidly, with subscriptions rising to 7.96 million to account for 32.5 percent of the total mobile phone subscriptions in the first quarter of this year, a report released this week by the Institute for Information Industry said. The number marks 15.2 percent growth from the previous quarter, when 3G subscriptions totaled 6.91 million, or 28.5 percent of the total mobile phone subscriptions, said the report authored by the institute’s Foreseeing Innovative New Digiservices division. In the first quarter of this year, mobile phone subscriptions jumped 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter to hit 24.47 million, with the mobile phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants standing at 106.5, the report says. Compared with the significant growth in 3G network subscriptions, 2G network subscriptions declined 5.5 percent quarter-on-quarter to 15.03 million, the report said.

  ■AUTOMOBILES

  Nissan to expand in China

  Japan’s Nissan Motor Co and its Chinese partner Dongfeng Motor Corp (東風汽車) plan to build a new engine factory in central China, a newspaper reported yesterday. The two firms will jointly invest more than ¥24 billion (US$224 million) in construction of the new plant, which will begin operation in March next year, the Nikkei business daily reported. The factory will be located near Zhengzhou Nissan Automobile Co, an assembly joint venture between the two automakers in Henan Province, the newspaper said. Nissan and Dongfeng are to set up a new joint venture in October to control the plant with an initial capital of ¥11 billion, the daily said. Dongfeng will control 51 percent of the venture and the 50-50 Dongfeng-Nissan venture taking the remaining 49 percent.

  ■ECONOMY

  ASEAN to face ‘headwinds’

  The major ASEAN economies are likely to deliver higher-than-expected growth this year, but the outlook for next year looks challenging, economists said in a report published in Singapore yesterday. Morgan Stanley raised its growth forecast for Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia for this year to 5.6 percent from an earlier estimate of 5.5 percent. The investment bank kept intact its recently upgraded GDP growth projections for Malaysia at 5.7 percent and Thailand at 5.6 percent. It jacked up the forecast for Indonesia by half a point to 6 percent and cut Singapore’s from 5.1 percent to 4.3 percent, the breakdown in the Business Times said. ASEAN economies will “face headwinds” next year as higher inflation cuts into purchasing power and capital investment decisions, and export markets soften, the investment bank’s outlook said. It cut its GDP growth forecast for next year for the region to 5.1 percent, nearly 1 point.

  ■COMPUTERS

  Ex-IBM worker admits theft

  An executive who worked at IBM Corp for nearly a decade pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing trade secrets about the company’s pricing and trying to pass them off to his superiors at rival Hewlett-Packard Co when he took a job there. Atul Malhotra, 42, faces up to 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine on the single count of theft of trade secrets, prosecutors said on Friday. Malhotra entered his plea to the charge in US District Court in San Jose, California, where sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 29. Malhotra worked from 1997 to 2006 as a director of sales and business development in the Armonk, New York-based IBM’s global services division.
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