Taipei Times: What kinds of cooperation or merger plays do you expect to see in Taiwan's mobile telecom industry in the run up to 3G licensing?
Charlie Midgley: Right now it's kind of like a poker game ... everybody is holding their cards and waiting to see how the game is going to be played out. Everybody is making their own plans. Transasia has probably the most developed team of any of the wireless operators right now. We have dedicated almost 25 of our personnel to the planning of a bid. At the same time we are looking for new shareholders, so much could change on how that turns out. We're doing two things that sound contrary to each other; one is we are looking for new shareholders and that makes it sound like we're for sale but at the same time we're moving full speed ahead regardless of whether we stay with our own shareholders or whether we are under new shareholders -- it makes sense for us to be working full steam ahead to prepare to get that license.
I think that's probably the biggest reason that we've started to look for additional shareholders, so we can be stronger when these national contracts are awarded. We've had discussions with many people but we've not come to a final agreement with any of them ... discussions continue. Either way we think we're very well positioned to get a 3G license because of our performance as a regional 2G operator.
Jimmy Yau: We all know TransAsia is looking for new buyer. But because of the current market situation, it's difficult to find one, especially as the mobile players are very concerned with obtaining a 3G license -- which will become their No. 1 priority. So whether they're willing to go for the 3G or are really interested in finding a buyer as soon as possible that's the question. As for the other mobile players and newcomers, they're preparing very hard for 3G license bidding. But with Japan's NTT DoCoMo's major participation in KG Telecom as a 20 percent shareholder, we have every confidence that we can win a 3G license because we know the critical factors for success of how to combine a meaningful and practical business plan in terms of DoCoMo's success on the content services and in terms of 3G preparation since last year. DoCoMo will be the first to launch 3G services in May this year. No other operator will have had the experience of running a so-called wireless, broadband data service.
Joseph O'Konek: Right now the rules are unclear as to how the licenses will be awarded and there's been no final decision on the number of licenses. Once those rules are finalized then all the interested players -- whether they be existing wireless operators in Taiwan, international wireless players looking for an entry into Taiwan, as well as some of the local consortiums -- will begin talking to each other on what's the best way to put together a winning license team. We're exploring all different types of partners and partnership arrangements, looking at our financial models and at what the returns would be. But until you know the rules it's hard to talk about anything.
Steve Wang: Consolidation is currently underway. The consolidation began with the regional companies. First KG and Tuntex combined to form a nationwide operator. More recently it has been announced that the shareholders of TransAsia are attempting to sell their stakes in that company. This trend is occurring not only in Taiwan but worldwide. With regard to cooperation, we have Verizon, the largest wireless operator in the US and one of the five largest operators in the world as our strategic partner. Verizon, in turn, is partnered with Vodafone, the world's largest cellular operator, to introduce 3G services in the US and certain European countries. In a broader sense of cooperation we will be cooperating with content providers, equipment manufacturers, handset suppliers, Internet service providers [ISPs] and [financial institutions] both domestic and international for the delivery of the best 3G services to our customers.
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