■ Telecoms
Ericsson exceeds forecasts
Swedish telecommuni-cations equipment maker Ericsson reported yesterday second-quarter profit that smashed market forecasts, driven by stellar margins. Ericsson posted net profit of 5.90 billion kronor (US$ 790,104) in the April to May period, compared with a loss of 2.728 billion kronor in the same period last year. Pretax profit amounted to 7.83 billion kronor, up from a loss of 3.585 billion in the same period a year earlier and well above average market expectations of 5.360 billion. The gross margin was 47.8 percent in the second quarter, com-pared with 35.1 percent in the same period last year, and well above analysts' expectations of 44.8 percent. Second-quarter sales came in at 32.6 billion kronor, up from 27.613 billion. Orders increased to 33.1 billion from 28.3 billion.
■ Technology
China getting online fast
The number of Internet users in China has risen 28 percent over the past year to 87 million, and use of broadband and online commerce is soaring, the government said yesterday. The number of broadband subscribers has jumped 78.7 percent in the past six months to 31.1 million, the China Internet Network Information Center said on its Web site. China says it already has the world's second-biggest online population after the US. China aggressively pro-motes Internet use for business and education, despite an average annual income of less than US$1,000 per person. At the same time, the government tries to crush attempts to use the Internet to spread criticism of authoritarian rule, imprisoning activists for posting political material online. According to the Network Information Center, a survey found that 58 percent of Chinese Internet users planned to start shopping online in the coming year.
■ Credit-Card Debt
Joblessness drives defaults
Unemployment is the main cause of credit-card pay-ment default in Singapore, not a change in spending habits, a study by Visa International said yesterday. Singaporeans now spend more on credit cards, but have increased repayments correspondingly. Nearly 40 percent of outstanding balances on cards between September and December of last year were repaid without incurring interest, the highest since 1999. The correlation between the default and delinquency rates with unemployment "indicates that the lift in the default rates in recent times has been driven by the economic cycle rather than a fundamental change in cardholder behavior," the Visa report said. The unemployment rate rose to a high of 5.5 percent last September amid a spate of layoffs, but fell to 4.5 percent in March.
■ Telecommuting
US numbers increasing
Some 44 million US workers will be telecommuting, or working from home at least on a part-time basis this year, according to a survey released this week. The survey by In-Stat/MDR released on Monday pro-jects the number of tele-commuters is expected to grow by 2008 to 51 million, with 14 million working full-time at home. The report notes that the rise has fueled growth in broadband by home users. "Companies too are supporting this movement, with some firms going so far as to sub-sidizing the equipment and service expense to allow their employees to work from home," the research firm noted.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2