Local WiMAX license holder Tatung InfoComm Co (大同電信) yesterday said it is in talks with potential strategic partners for NT$5 billion (US$147.7 million) in investment over the next five years.
Tatung InfoComm, a telecom affiliate of Taiwan’s home appliance maker Tatung Co (大同), is scheduled to begin its commercial operations on Monday. It will offer data cards for notebook computer users to connect to the Internet while on the go by using fourth-generation (4G) or high-speed WiMAX technology. The service will be offered first in Penghu.
Tatung InfoComm, which has NT$1 billion in initial capital, planned to invest NT$5 billion over the next five years, Tatung InfoComm chairwoman Lin Wen-yen (林郭文艷) told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference.
PHOTO: HU CHING-HUI, TAIPEI TIMES
“We will not rule out the possibility of introducing strategic partners or new investors. We welcome any new investments,” Lin said, in response to a question about talks with Intel Corp concerning a capital injection.
Intel, which is the biggest promoter of WiMAX technology, last year invested US$11.7 million in another WiMAX license holder, Vmax Telecom Co (威邁思), via its venture capital arm, Intel Capital. In July 2007, Vmax won a license to deploy and offer WiMAX service in the northern part of Taiwan, while Tatung is allowed to offer services in Kaohsiung, Pingtung and eastern Hualien County.
Lin Wei-shan (林蔚山), chairman of Tatung Co and Lin Wen-yen’s husband, said the telecom company hopes to have 1 million subscribers in less than five years.
Tatung InfoComm planned to offer data cards with a minimum charge of nearly NT$1,000 a month, company president Peter Yen (巖福心) said yesterday.
Tatung InfoComm’s price is slightly higher than the NT$850 monthly fee offered by the nation’s top telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) for unlimited Internet connection on notebook computers using 3.5-generation technology, but it is almost double the NT$517 monthly fee charged by smaller player Vibo Telecom Inc (威寶電信).
Data card users are expected to grow to 1 million by the end of this year, Chunghwa Telecom’s forecasts showed.
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