■ CELLPHONES
Nokia inks China contract
Nokia Oyj announced a deal yesterday to sell US$2 billion in handsets to China Postel this year, in the company's largest market. The world's No. 1 mobile phone maker said the deal includes the development of technological infrastructure and marketing with China Postel, with which it has worked since 1998. China Postel, a subsidiary of China P&T Appliances, has a market share of 30 percent in that country. Last year, Nokia sold more than 70 million mobile devices in China, an increase of 39 percent on 2006. Nokia, based in Espoo, Finland, has sales in 130 countries. It employs some 130,000 people worldwide.
■ FINANCE
China opens equity markets
Foreign financial institutions will again be allowed to invest in China's equity markets after the government ended a year-long suspension aimed at cooling the market, state media reported yesterday. China's regulators have given the green light to an unnamed sovereign wealth fund to invest under China's especially designated foreign investor plan, the official Shanghai Securities News said. "To encourage qualified overseas funds to invest in China's capital market for the long term, a foreign government fund has recently been granted the QFII qualification," said Hu Xiaolian (胡曉煉), China's foreign exchange chief.
■ CELLPHONES
Motorola replaces officer
Motorola Inc, seeking to regain sales lost to rivals, announced the departure of chief marketing officer Casey Keller, less than 18 months after he took the job. Keller left on Feb. 29, spokeswoman Jennifer Erickson said in an e-mail. Jeremy Dale and Eduardo Conrado will take over the job. Dale will manage handset marketing, while Conrado will focus on business customers. Chief executive officer Greg Brown has reshuffled the management team after Motorola's sales slid for four straight quarters and customers defected to Apple Inc and Nokia Oyj. Last month, Brown took direct charge of the phone division. He also named a new chief financial officer.
■ TELECOMS
Siemens to sell unit
German industrial group Siemens is in talks with several parties interested in buying its telecoms systems unit SEN, which faces a major restructuring, its chief executive said yesterday. "We want to sell SEN and are holding very advanced discussions with interested" parties, Peter Loescher said in an interview with Die Welt newspaper. Problems with SEN, Loescher said, "have been on the agenda at Siemens since mid-2006. It is time to clarify things, especially for the staff." SEN has lost more than US$1.5 billion in two years.
■ PATENTS
CeBIT stands raided
Scores of investigators raided 51 exhibitor stands at the CeBIT fair in Hannover, Germany, this week, looking for goods suspected of infringing patents, police said on Thursday. They carried off six cartons of documents and electronic goods including cellphones, navigation devices, digital picture frames and flat-screen monitors. Police said the reason for the extent of the raids was the high number of complaints from patent holders in the run up to the trade fair. Of the 51 companies raided, 24 were Chinese. Another 12 were Taiwanese companies and nine were German.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS