■ Telecoms
China planning merger
China's telecommunications regulator has submitted a plan to merge the nation's four phone operators into two in an attempt to boost their competitiveness before overseas carriers enter the market in 2006, Ming Pao Daily reported, without citing anyone. Under the plan, the country's two mobile phone companies would each be combined with one of the two fixed-line operators, the paper said. China Mobile Communications Corp would be merged with China Network Commun-ications Group Corp and China United Telecommun-ications Group would be combined with China Telecommunications Corp, it said.
■ Software
Microsoft extends support
Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, said it would extend customer support for its software to at least 10 years after a product's release from seven years. The new program will begin on June 1, the company said in an announcement at its TechEd conference in San Diego. The change is in response to customer complaints that Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft ends support too soon, requiring customers to switch to newer versions. Sellers of rival programs such as the Linux operating system have targeted customers with older, unsupported Microsoft products who don't want to pay for new versions.
■ Servers
IBM extends lead
International Business Machines Corp (IBM), the world's largest computer maker, increased its lead over Hewlett-Packard Co and Sun Microsystems Inc in the worldwide server market, researcher Gartner Inc said. IBM's share of the US$11.8 billion market for servers, machines that run company databases and Internet sites, advanced to 31 percent in the first quarter from 29 percent a year earlier. Server sales at the Armonk, New York-based company rose 17 percent to US$3.63 billion, Gartner said.
■ China
Commodity prices rising
Adding to worries over inflation, growth in prices for key industrial commodities, including oil and nonferrous metals, soared to its highest level in nearly eight years in April, the Chinese government reported yesterday. The producer price index, which measures the cost of products as they leave the factory, increased 5 percent in April over a year earlier, the fastest increase since the second half of 1996, the National Bureau of Statistics said without providing details. Producer prices rose at an annual rate of 3.9 percent in March. They climbed 2.3 percent on-year last year.
■ Internet
Online advertising soars
Online advertising revenues surged to a new record of US$2.3 billion in the first quarter of the year, according to a survey released this week. The survey released Monday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that the revenues were up 38.9 percent from the first quarter of last year and up 3.9 percent from the previous three-month period. Greg Stuart, president and chief executive of the IAB, said: "The last two years have offered marketers the opportunity to collect research and data that proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Internet advertising accomplishes key marketing goals as well, if not better, than any other ad medium."
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
SHOT IN THE ARM: The new system can be integrated with Avenger and Stinger missiles to bolster regional air defense capabilities, a defense ministry report said Domestically developed Land Sword II (陸射劍二) missiles were successfully launched and hit target drones during a live-fire exercise at the Jiupeng Military Base in Pingtung County yesterday. The missiles, developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), were originally scheduled to launch on Tuesday last week, after the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday long weekend, but were postponed to yesterday due to weather conditions. Local residents and military enthusiasts gathered outside the base to watch the missile tests, with the first one launching at 9:10am. The Land Sword II system, which is derived from the Sky Sword II (天劍二) series, was turned