Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信), the nation's third largest mobile-phone service operator, announced yesterday it would spend about NT$30 billion in a cash-and-stock swap to take over smaller rival KG Telecommunications Co (和信電訊).
The two companies signed a letter of intent yesterday. Based on the agreement, for every KG Telecom share, Far EasTone will pay NT$6.864 cash and 0.46332 of its shares.
"Through our alliance, we will be able to reach a larger economy of scale and strengthen our market position," Douglas Hsu (徐旭東), chairman of Far EasTone, said at a press conference.
The acquisition will boost Far EasTone's customer base to some 7.7 million users and make it the country's second largest mobile-phone service operator, after Taiwan Cellular Corp's (台灣大哥大) 8.6 million users, but ahead of state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co's (中華電信) 7.67 million users.
"KG Telecom is delighted to be part of a big telecom player ... this enables us to be more involved in this competitive and fast-moving industry," said Leslie Koo (辜成允), chairman of KG Telecom.
The transaction leaves KG Telecom with 800 million Far EasTone shares along with NT$11.9 billion in cash.
KG Telecom, along with its well-known i-mode service, is expected to be absorbed into Far EasTone's operations.
"Basically the new company will still operate as Far EasTone, and KG Telecom will become a part or a brand under the company," Hsu said.
Hsu said it may take at least one month for both parties to discuss future operations and management details.
According to a bank official involved in the merger deal, KG Telecom will control 23 percent of Far EasTone's shares and retain several seats on the board.
Koo will become one of Far EasTone's board members and "play a very important role in the new company," said Ronald Song (宋雲峰), an executive of ABN Amro Holdings NV, which advises KG Telecom.
The proposed merger is expected to improve Far EasTone's competitive edge for the coming high-speed mobile Internet era.
"The move will help us to successfully migrate to third-generation [3G] mobile services," Hsu said.
A telecom analyst said a larger customer base can lower an operator's average cost in setting up 3G networks and the merger is on the right track, as the local mobile-service market is nearly saturated.
"Severe competition has left second-tier players no room to expand or to profit," said Nathan Lin (林宗賢), an analyst at SinoPac Securities Corp (建華證券).
In a bid to get a foothold in the 3G market, it is necessary to have a strong customer base, he said.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the