Telecommunications operator Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) yesterday said it was stepping up efforts to build a 4G network so it can offer an ultra-high-speed Internet connection by the end of the year as competition in the market heats up.
That would make Asia Pacific the last among domestic 4G license holders to offer commercial 4G services, six months after the nation’s top phone company Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) made its services available on May 29.
Since the launch three months ago, the nation’s big three telecom operators have accumulated 600,000 4G subscribers in total.
“Asia Pacific was originally scheduled to launch 4G services in the first quarter of next year. Now we intend to bring the date forward,” company chairman Lu Fan-ming (呂芳銘) told shareholders in an extraordinary shareholder’s meeting yesterday. “We are also studying [the feasibility of] offering free voice calls and free text messaging [for our 4G users].”
On Monday, smaller-sized rival Taiwan Star Telecom Corp (台灣之星) officially launched its 4G service and said it aimed to obtain a 20 percent share in the country’s 4G market by the end of the year.
However, Lu does not consider Taiwan Star a threat, saying its competitor remains weak in providing high-speed data transmission.
“Taiwan Star will only operate 5 megahertz 4G bandwidth for the 4G services before another 5 megahertz bandwidth becomes available in 2018, while Asia Pacific plans to offer its 4G services on the company’s 30 megahertz bandwidth,” Lu said.
For its 4G services, Asia Pacific needs to build 250 4G base stations, but the company has not yet obtained permission from the National Communications Commission (NCC) to start the construction, Lu said.
Asia Pacific shareholders yesterday gave the go-ahead to the merger between Asia Pacific and Ambit Microsystems Corp (國碁電子) via share swaps. Asia Pacific is set to be the surviving entity in the merger.
In July, Ambit spent NT$11.66 billion (US$388.48 million) in acquiring 583 million new common shares, or 70 percent of the planned offering of 826 million new Asia Pacific shares. At the same time, Ambit obtained the right to buy the remaining 243 million shares along with a strategic partner.
As Ambit is a telecoms subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday’s approval is set to help Hon Hai to expand its holding of Asia Pacific to 22 percent in June next year, from its current 14.99 percent.
Separately, Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-largest phone company, yesterday said it has obtained approval from the NCC to expand its 4G services to 1,800 megahertz (MHz) band from its existing 700MHz band.
The company’s new 4G services on the 1,800MHz band are now available in Taipei, Greater Tai-chung and Greater Kaohsiung, Far EasTone said. By the end of this year, the coverage in the nation’s five most populous cities is set to increase to 80 percent, it said.
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