Far EasTone Telecommunications Co Ltd (遠傳電信), the nation’s third-biggest telecom, yesterday said it planned to recruit 1,500 employees this year primarily to support rapid expansion of its 4G services, including “big data” and the Internet of Things.
In addition to meeting surging demand for talent in its new business division and in Internet commerce and information technology, Far EasTone’s latest recruitment program is seeking talent to develop its Internet of Things business using next-generation 5G technology and salespeople for its retail outlets, the company said.
“As 5G technology will solve the problem of Internet connections and latency, using ultra-high speed, it is clear that the Internet of Things will be the major application using 5G technology,” company president Yvonne Li (李彬) told reporters on the sideline of a news conference to release a survey about the effect of articulation and emotion.
Photo: CNA
There will be 10 billion units of Internet-connected devices using 5G technology, Li said, citing industry statistics.
“We need to develop our own 5G intellectual property platform and enhance our software development capability,” Li said.
As Ericsson is Far EasTone’s sole telecommunication equipment supplier, Far EasTone is to collaborate with the Swedish company in developing next-generation communications technology, Li said.
CAPITAL SPENDING
Far EasTone budgeted NT$12.5 billion (US$395.8 million) for capital spending this year — mostly for increasing its 4G network coverage. The company said that it has not yet spent any capital on developing 5G technology.
Far EasTone aims to triple its number of 4G users to 3 million this year from last year’s 1 million, representing about 30 percent of the nation’s overall 10 million 4G subscribers, the company said.
Far EasTone offers competitive annual salaries that total from 14 months’ to 16 months’ worth of monthly wages for employees after bonuses, it said.
This year, Far EasTone plans to raise salaries by an average of 3 to 4 percent, Li said.
Commenting on the second-round auction of 4G bandwidth, Li said Far EasTone would not rule out bidding for the bandwidth designated for TDD-LTE technology.
Bidding prices and handset availability would be among the deciding factors for the company in opting for the technology, Li said.
TDD-LTD is a 4G communications technology standard developed and adopted by Chinese firms, such as China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) and Huawei Technologies Co (華為).
BANDWIDTH AUCTION
The National Communications Commission plans to auction a combined 190 megahertz (MHz) of 2,500/MHz and 2,600/MHz bands by the end of this year. The bands support FDD-LTE technology, which is mostly used by local telecoms, and TDD-LTE technology.
On recent speculation about Far EasTone’s plan to acquire Taiwan Star Cellular Corp (台灣之星) in a deal thought to be worth NT$18 billion, Li said the company has not yet made a decision.
Far EasTone shares fell 0.13 percent to NT$74.5 yesterday, underperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.28 percent.
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