Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s No. 3 telecoms operator, expects to accelerate integration with other companies owned by Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) to create synergy in the development of its mobile payment service, company officials said yesterday.
The company may seek partners in the retail and financial sectors in the early stages of this integration, the officials said, an indication that Far Eastern Geant Co (愛買量販) and Far Eastern International Bank (遠東國際商銀), which both belong to Far Eastern, might be two possible options.
“The idea of mobile payment has been in my mind for four years, and now is a good time to execute it,” group chairman Douglas Hsu (徐旭東) told reporters after Far EasTone’s annual shareholders’ meeting.
The telecoms operator plans to release one or two mobile payment applications for portable smart devices in the second half of this year, and gradually expand to phones equipped with near-field communication (NFC) technology, Hsu said.
Far EasTone, one of the nation’s six licensed WiMAX wireless broadband operators, expects the government to relax the regulations on the merger of WiMAX operators.
The other WiMAX operators are First International Telecom Corp (大眾電信), Global Mobile Corp (全球一動), Tatung InfoComm Co (大同電信), Vee TIME Corp (威達雲端電訊) and VMAX Telecom Co (威邁思電信).
An operator has to expand the coverage of the 4G network to 70 percent or more if it is to qualify for a merger, according to the National Communications Commission.
“That means each operator needs to invest NT$5 billion to NT$6 billion (US$173.8 million to US$208.6 mllion) in network construction, a heavy burden for the operators,” Far EasTone chief technology officer Jeffrey Gee (紀竹律) said.
The government should also maintain its neutral attitude to WiMAX and its major 4G rival Long-Term Evolution (LTE), allowing operators to decide which networks to develop, Far EasTone said.
“Far EasTone will continue with its development of WiMAX, while expecting the government to help with the technology transformation to LTE in the long term,” Hsu said.
Shareholders approved a plan to deliver cash dividends of NT$2.5 per common share based on last year’s net income of NT$8.85 billion, or NT$2.72 per share.
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