Global Mobile Corp (全球一動) is set to launch a WiMAX voice service next week, making it the first 4G operator in Taiwan to do so, as well as the world’s first WiMAX operator to introduce such a service, an official said yesterday.
The company has obtained the go-ahead from the National Communications Commission (NCC), with the official approval document to be received by today, said the company official, who declined to be named.
Global Mobile started a promotion on the home page of its Web site last week where current and prospective subscribers could pick up to five mobile numbers of their choice. Users would then be given one of their chosen numbers when the service is officially rolled out.
The 10-digit number will start with “0900,” and a “session initiation protocol” application will then be made available for download to users’ PCs, tablets or smartphones to enable them to make calls.
Subscribers would then be able to call one another for free and make paid calls to other mobile operators and fixed-line phones.
Details of the plan will be made public next month, the official said.
Global Mobile chairperson Rosemary Ho (何薇玲) early this month lashed out at the commission, saying it had been asking the firm to repeatedly submit supporting documents for its WiMAX voice application and that the evaluation process has dragged on “forever.”
The voice service is deemed critical for Global Mobile to boost its subscriber base, which stands at little more than 10,000 — far short of its original target of 30,000.
Ho said the company aims to draw 160,000 new subscribers next year and to boost the total to 250,000 in 2012.
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