Rumors of a deal between NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile phone company, and KG Telecom (
Taiwan Cement, which owns a quarter of KG Telecom directly and through a subsidiary, said DoCoMo will purchase a 20 percent stake in KG Telecommunications for as much as US$543 million as early as this week.
"We have papers all ready and they [DoCoMo] can come sign anytime," said Chiang Cheng-hsiung, vice president of Taiwan Cement. He expects an agreement to be signed this week.
NTT DoCoMo, however, refused to confirm the report. "We have not put out any press releases regarding [our] relations with KG telecom, so we cannot confirm anything regarding this matter," said NTT DoCoMo spokesperson Miki Nakajima.
The Japanese mobile communications firm has been on a global buying binge recently, purchasing stakes and making agreements with a number of companies.
"We are considering a wide variety of potential partners in Europe, North America and Asia," said Nakajima. "We have already announced alliances with Hutchison Telephone Company Limited [Hong Kong], KPN Mobile [the Netherlands}, Hutchison 3G UK Holdings [UK] and AOL Japan."
KG Telecom, with 3.05 million subscribers as of mid-October, would benefit greatly from a hookup with DoCoMo. The Japanese firm is a leader in creating mobile Internet technology and Web content. DoCoMo would not only be able to help the young, Taiwanese mobile phone services operator build its wireless Internet capability, it could also help in KG Telecom's bid to win a 3G (third-generation mobile Internet) license in the Taiwan government's upcoming auction.
Chiang said NTT DoCoMo is likely to pay between NT$53 (US$1.6) and NT$57.5 a share for the 20 percent stake, which was previously owned by Bell Canada International Inc, a unit of BCE Inc.
The Canadian company in August exercised a sellback option, asking Taiwan Cement or other "designated parties" to buy its 20 percent stake for NT$53 per share. Under the agreement, Taiwan Cement will seek buyers for the 20 percent stake before Feb. 28, 2001 or it will buy any remaining shares.
Over the weekend, Japan's Jiji Press cited unidentified industry sources as saying NTT DoCoMo had reached a basic agreement to buy a 20 percent equity stake in the Taiwan company for ?60 billion (US$539 million).
DoCoMo is also in talks with the mobile phone arm of US telecom giant AT&T Corp, the report said, adding that the Japanese company is set to spend about ?1 trillion for a 15 percent to 20 percent stake in AT&T Wireless.
AT&T Corp is already the second-biggest shareholder in Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (
Far EasTone is running neck-and-neck with KG Telecom for third place in Taiwan's mobile phone market.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)