Far EasTone Telecommunications Co (遠傳電信) yesterday said it is to merge with Asia Pacific Telecom Co (亞太電信) in a share swap worth about NT$24.7 billion (US$881.48 million), which would be the latest consolidation in Taiwan’s telecom industry.
Based on the statement, each share of Asia Pacific Telecom would be swapped for 0.093 Far EasTone shares.
The deal is expected to be completed on Sept. 30.
Photo: Lisa Wang, Taipei Times
The announcement follows a plan by Taiwan Mobile Co (台灣大哥大) to acquire smaller peer Taiwan Star Telecom Corp (台灣之星) for NT$28.2 billion.
Originally, Far EasTone had planned to increase its stake in Asia Pacific to 23.8 percent this year based on an agreement the two firms signed two years ago.
Far EasTone has an 11.58 percent stake in Asia Pacific.
“However, after our peers announced their merger plan in December last year, we thought our strategy should evolve with the changes in the market and the industry landscape,” Far EasTone president Chee Ching (井琪) told a news conference in Taipei.
Far EasTone expects to see synergy during the first year after the merger, as it would expand its 5G bandwidth and customer base.
Far EasTone would become the nation’s No. 2 telecom operator after the merger, with 9.2 million subscribers, surpassing Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Star’s combined 9.12 million.
Far EasTone expects the health of the nation’s telecom industry to improve with the deals, as pricing competition would diminish with the reduction of operators to three from five, Ching said.
Hopefully with fewer players, bandwidth auctions would be less competitive, leading to reasonable bidding, she said.
Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which has a 36 percent stake in Asia Pacific, would hold 4 percent of Far EasTone after the transaction is completed.
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
Asian e-commerce giant Shein’s (希音) decision to set up shop in a historic Parisian department store has ruffled feathers in the fashion capital. Anger has been boiling since Shein announced last week that it would open its first permanent physical store next month at BHV Marais, an iconic building that has stood across from Paris City Hall since 1856. The move prompted some French brands to announce they would leave BHV Marais, but the department store had already been losing tenants over late payments. Aime cosmetics line cofounder Mathilde Lacombe, whose brand was among those that decided to leave following
RSS