Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) and China Telecom Corp (中國電信) yesterday announced plans to jointly build a submarine cable between Kinmen and Xiamen.
Construction of the submarine cable is estimated to cost less than 100 million yuan, or NT$476 million, with the two telecom operators sharing the cost, company executives said yesterday on the sidelines of a two-day meeting on Cross-Strait Telecommunications Cooperation and Exchange in Taipei.
The submarine cable project is still subject to approval by Taiwanese and Chinese authorities.
Leng Rongquan (冷榮泉), chief engineer of China Telecom, said the company was still in talks with Taiwan’s largest telecommunications operator about the project.
He said that construction of the cable would be beneficial to the telecommunications industry on both sides of the Strait, as it would increase efficiency and reduce costs.
Chunghwa Telecom’s chairman and chief executive officer Lu Shyue-ching (呂學錦) said the construction of the submarine cable will begin once it receives the green light from Taiwan’s Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
“If development of the telecommunications industry across the Taiwan Strait could help reduce costs, we would lower prices to reflect the cost reductions,” Lu said.
Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) estimated that the demand for third-generation (3G) mobile phones in China would reach 150 million units within the next year or two.
Hwang said China’s 3G mobile communication market offers 1 trillion yuan in business opportunities, with about 60 percent going to mobile phones. If Taiwanese manufacturers could get hold of about one-tenth of the pie, it would be worth around 60 billion yuan.
Mobile phone manufacturers and chip design companies in Taiwan will be the biggest beneficiaries, he said.
Separately, China Mobile Communications Corp (中國移動) yesterday voiced its confidence that the Taiwanese government would permit it to invest in Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信).
China Mobile on April 29 announced a strategic alliance with Far EasTone and plans to buy a 12 percent stake in the Taiwanese firm.
China Mobile vice president Liu Aili (劉愛力) said that while the company has plans to expand its stake in the future, it would not get involved in Far EasTone’s daily operations and would never become the firm’s major shareholder.
“I believe there is no vital difference between holding 10 percent and 12 percent. I don’t believe that the [Taiwanese] government will allow us to hold a 10 percent stake in Far EasTone, but say no to holding 12 percent,” Liu said.
PATENTS: MediaTek Inc said it would not comment on ongoing legal cases, but does not expect the legal action by Huawei to affect its business operations Smartphone integrated chips designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科) on Friday said that a lawsuit filed by Chinese smartphone brand Huawei Technologies Co (華為) over alleged patent infringements would have little impact on its operations. In an announcement posted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, MediaTek said that it would not comment on an ongoing legal case. However, the company said that Huawei’s legal action would have little impact on its operations. MediaTek’s statement came after China-based PRIP Research said on Thursday that Huawei filed a lawsuit with a Chinese district court claiming that MediaTek infringed on its patents. The infringement mentioned in the lawsuit likely involved
Taipei is today suspending work, classes and its US$2.4 trillion stock market as Typhoon Gaemi approaches Taiwan with strong winds and heavy rain. The nation is not conducting securities, currency or fixed income trading, statements from its stock and currency exchanges said. Authorities had yesterday issued a warning that the storm could affect people on land and canceled some ship crossings and domestic flights. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) expects its local chipmaking fabs to maintain normal production, the company said in an e-mailed statement. The main chipmaker for Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp said it has activated routine typhoon alert
GROWTH: TSMC increased its projected revenue growth for this year to more than 25 percent, citing stronger-than-expected demand for AI devices and smartphones The Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER, 台灣經濟研究院) yesterday raised its forecast for Taiwan’s GDP growth this year from 3.29 percent to 3.85 percent, as exports and private investment recovered faster than it predicted three months ago. The Taipei-based think tank also expects that Taiwan would see a 8.19 percent increase in exports this year, better than the 7.55 percent it projected in April, as US technology giants spent more money on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and development. “There will be more AI servers going forward, but it remains to be seen if the momentum would extend to personal computers, smartphones and
Catastrophic computer outages caused by a software update from one company have once again exposed the dangers of global technological dependence on a handful of players, experts said on Friday. A flawed update sent out by the little-known security firm CrowdStrike Holdings Inc brought airlines, TV stations and myriad other aspects of daily life to a standstill. The outages affected companies or individuals that use CrowdStrike on the Microsoft Inc’s Windows platform. When they applied the update, the incompatible software crashed computers into a frozen state known as the “blue screen of death.” “Today CrowdStrike has become a household name, but not in