Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) yesterday said it is to create a huge 5G ecosystem by leveraging the company’s strengths and collaborating with AppWorks Venture (之初創投) to incubate more technology start-ups, a move that is to play a crucial part in boosting the telecom’s market capital to US$100 billion in the next decade.
The company’s new president, Jamie Lin (林之晨), cofounder of start-up accelerator AppWorks, proposed the plan.
Lin was handpicked by Taiwan Mobile chairman Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and took the position on Monday.
Taiwan Mobile is the telecom arm of Fubon Financial Holding Co (富邦金控), which is owned by the Tsai family.
Lin, 41, is the youngest executive in the history of the nation’s telecom industry.
His appointment came as local telecoms are scrambling to transform into technology service providers in the 5G era.
“I set a mid-to-long-term target to expand the company’s operations. We have identified Momo.com Inc (富邦媒體) as our growth [driver] in the second leg,” Lin told a media briefing.
Momo.com, a TV and online retailer, could be developed into an enormous retail company like Amazon.com, Lin said.
“We are seeking to build third, fourth and even fifth legs of growth [drivers],” Lin said. “Our goal is to create a multinational company with a market value of US$100 billion in 10 to 15 years.”
Taiwan Mobile, the nation’s No. 2 telecom, was valued at NT$37.79 billion (US$1.23 billion) after its shares closed at NT$110.5 yesterday in Taipei trading.
The company has about 3.42 billion outstanding shares.
Asked how to achieve the “eye-popping” goal, Lin said that Taiwan Mobile is to provide technology-based services by leveraging the strength of Fubon’s subsidiaries, including Momo.com and cable TV system operator Kbro Co (凱擘).
It is important to create a 5G ecosystem with AppWorks and other companies to offer new services for every vertical sector, he said.
“Telecoms are no longer relying on selling bandwidth or mobile phones” to generate revenue, Lin said. “Telecoms will become more like software providers, which is an area I am good at.”
Lin gave the example of offering virtual reality services for basketball fans to watch US National Basketball Association games.
Taiwan Mobile has worked with AppWorks on six or seven projects, and more are coming, Lin said, adding that it is considering investing in AppWorks.
AppWorks has helped create 328 technology start-ups and expects to absorb 70 teams per year.
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